The shortlist for the first-ever Gaydio Pride Awards has been announced, and Greater Manchester’s charities, people and organisations have absolutely dominated.
The inaugural awards with Hilton will celebrate the efforts that ‘bring Pride to every corner of the UK’.
Those shortlisted across 10 categories (including Grassroots Pride, LGBTQ+ Champion of the Year, and Music Artist of the Year) were announced this week, including some big names from across our region.
The eventual winners will be crowned next month at Manchester’s Hilton hotel in a glittering ceremony, alongside performances from Raye, Sigala and Danny Beard, all hosted by Gaydio’s breakfast show presenters, Paris and Dave.
Manchester Pride has made the cut in the Major Pride of the Year category, while smaller neighbourhood prides including Salford and Prestwich received recognition in the Grassroots category.
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Then both Manchester Village Spartans and Manchester-founded Outdoor Lads are nominated for LGBTQ+ Club or Sports team of the Year.
In the Venue or Event of the Year category, our region has particularly shone, nabbing three of the five shortlisted places with Swagga, Filthy Gorgeous at The Brewers, and The House of Bridget’s in Bury all in the final stages.
George House Trust is down to the shortlist stage for Charity in the Gaydio Pride Awards with Hilton.
Kriss Herbert, Network Content Manager for Gaydio, said: “Gaydio is Where Pride Lives and it feels only right that we celebrate the people, organisations and charities who work so hard to support the LGBTQ+ community all year round.
“We think this shortlist really showcases the huge impact people, charities and communities are making all over the UK, and we can’t wait to announce our winners at the first ever Gaydio Pride Awards with Hilton on 10th February.”
Gaydio listeners and members of the public were asked to nominate the people, charities, and organisations they felt were making a real difference in their area, with the nominees then shortlisted by dedicated community panels, to ensure winners are chosen as fairly as possible, and represent the very best LGBTQ+ people and charities from all over the UK.
The winners of the awards will be revealed at the Gaydio Pride Awards ceremony at Manchester’s Hilton Hotel on Friday 10 February, revealed on air shortly after.
For more information and to buy tickets, head to gaydioprideawards.co.uk and keep an eye on social platforms @gaydio for more exciting announcements.
The full shortlist for the Gaydio Pride Awards in 2023
Major Pride of the Year
Manchester Pride
Pride in London
Birmingham Pride
Brighton + Hove Pride
Grassroots Pride of the Year
UK Black Pride
Trans Pride, Brighton
Prestwich Pride
Chesterfield Pride
Salford Pride
Volunteer of the Year
Michele Ralph (Crawley Pride Volunteer)
Joel Mordi (Nigeria’s First Ever Pride Organiser)
Charlie Watts (Pride in Surrey Volunteer)
LGBTQ+ Club or Sports team of the Year
Gay Outdoor Club
Leicester Diamonds Baseball Club
Manchester Village Spartans
Outdoor Lads
Trans Radio UK Football Club
Employee Pride Network of the Year
Proud at Deloitte
Birmingham women’s and Children’s NHS Trust LGBTQ+ Staff Network
Proud @ Shell UK
JET & Proud – Just Eat Takeaway.com’s global LGBT+ Network
Co-op respect
Bruntwood’s LGBTQIA++ Network
Venue or Event of the Year
Arch, Clapham
Swagga, Manchester
Filthy Gorgeous, The Brewers, Manchester
The House of Bridget’s, Bury
The Werkroom, Stoke-on-Trent
Planet Bar, Edinburgh
Charity
Spencer Trust
Fighting with Pride
George House Trust
LGBTQ+ Champion
Carley Owen
Sab Samuel / Aida H Dee / Drag Queen Story Time
Janusz Domagala (Finalist of Great British Bake Off)
Featured image: Manchester Pride
News
Luxury Manchester gym Blok confirms permanent closure after weeks of uncertainty
Daisy Jackson
Blok Manchester has announced its permanent closure, weeks after the doors to the premium fitness facility mysteriously closed.
Around a fortnight ago, members began to arrive to their classes to find the gym on Ducie Street locked up and a forfeiture notice on the door – but at the time, Blok said that it was fighting to reopen.
Sadly, in an email sent to members today, its founder has confirmed that the studio is now permanently closed.
Blok – which has several very successful sites down in London – said that its relationship with its landlord has ‘broken down to a point where trust has been lost’.
The gym wrote that it’s been left with ‘no workable way forward’.
They said: “BLOK Manchester was a space built by our loyal and dedicated community. Whether you joined us for one class or one hundred, we are deeply grateful. You helped create something genuinely special in an incredible city.”
In the immediate future, they said they’ll be supporting the team of fantastic trainers who worked here, as well as looking after members.
Members will be contacted within a few hours with options and refunds owed.
Blok Manchester has announced its permanent closure. Credit: The Manc Group
CEO and founder Ed Stanbury said: “While this marks the end of a chapter, we don’t see it as the end of our story in Manchester. We’re already speaking with developers about potential future sites and remain committed to returning to the city when the time is right.
“Thank you for being part of our story so far. Let’s shape the future of wellness. The mission continues.”
Commenting on Blok’s Instagram post – its first in almost a fortnight – people have been sharing their sadness at the closure of its Manchester site.
One person wrote: “beautiful space, beautiful staff and beautiful community.”
Another said: “Sending love to all the instructors !! :(((( gutted”
Someone else commented: “THE BEST CLASSES. I’m gutted.”
‘The average cost of a pint’ in the UK by region, according to the latest data
Danny Jones
Does it feel like pints keep getting more and more expensive almost every week at this point? Yes. Yes, it does, and while you can’t expect a city as big as Manchester to be one of the cheapest places to get one in the UK, we do often wonder how it compares to other parts of the country.
Well, as it happens, someone has recently crunched the numbers for us across the nation, breaking down which regions pay the most and the least for their pints.
The data has been examined by business management consultancy firm, CGA Strategy, using artificial intelligence and information from the latest Retail Price Index figures to find out what the ‘average cost of a pint’ is down south, up North and everywhere in between.
While the latest statistics provided by the group aren’t granular enough to educate us on Greater Manchester’s pint game exactly, we can show you how our particular geographic region is looking on the leaderboard at the moment.
That’s right, we Mancunians and the rest of the North West are technically joint mid-table when it comes to the lowest average cost of a pint, sharing the places from 3rd to 8th – according to CGA, anyway.
Powered by consumer intelligence company, NIQ (NielsenIQ) – who also use AI and the latest technology to deliver their insights – we can accept it might seem like it’s been a while since you’ve paid that little for a pint, especially in the city centre, but these are the stats they have published.
Don’t shoot the messenger, as they say; unless, of course, they’re trying to rob you blind for a bev. Fortunately, we’ve turned bargain hunting at Manchester bars into a sport at this point.
We might not boast the lowest ‘average’ pint cost in the UK, but we still have some bloody good places to keep drinking affordable.
London tops the charts (pretends to be shocked)
While some of you may have scratched your eyes at the supposed average pint prices here in the North West, it won’t surprise any of you to see that London leads the way when it came to the most expensive pint when it came to average cost in the UK.
To be honest, £5.44 doesn’t just sound cheap but virtually unheard of these days.
CGA has it that the average cost of a beer in the British capital is actually down 15p from its price last September, but as we all know, paying upwards of £7 for a pint down that end of the country is pretty much par for the course the closer you get to London.
Yet more reason you can be glad you live around here, eh? And in case you thought you were leaving this article with very little, think again…
Daisy Jackson -
12th January 2023 
