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
Simon Wood announces gutting closure of Manchester restaurant after seven years
Danny Jones
Celebrity chef and Manchester local Simon Wood has announced that his self-titled WOOD Restaurant has sadly closed its doors.
The Oldham-born chef-owner who won MasterChef back in 2015, revealed the unfortunate news on Wednesday, 2 October, confirming that the First Street site will be closing immediately. Truly gutting.
Wood has remained one of Greater Manchester’s most-renowned chefs for the past decade, not to mention a huge advocate for supporting the hospitality industry, especially post-Covid and during the ongoing cost of living crisis.
Sharing an emotional post on Instagram, he wrote: “It is with much regret that I have to inform you that I must close the doors here at WOOD for good, with immediate effect.”
“We have had 7 years as part of the Manchester city dining scene and I’m very proud of what the team and I have achieved”, the 48-year-old continued.
“Sadly with COVID rent arrears now being demanded by our landlord and an increasingly difficult marketplace, energy increases, ingredient costs and soon-to-be spiralling business rates we just cannot make this work.”
“I’d like to thank everyone for your support and patronage over the years. Thank you, Simon.”
It was only at the start of the week that Wood shared a frustrated post about a group of no-show customers over the weekend that failed to even pre-warn that they would no longer be attending one of his most exclusive and costly experiences.
We’re starting to lose count of how many local businesses are unfortunately struggling in the face of the rising business rates and energy bills that all independents are facing at the minute.
It was only last month that we saw Almous Famous had to call it a day with their Withington location and beloved sandwich spot Micky’s sadly suffer the same fate. Even cult favourite Cafe Marhaba looks to have gone up for sale. So tough to swallow.
We’re genuinely gutted for everyone involved with the brand. All the best, Si – we know you’ll be back stronger than ever one of these days.
Featured Images — The Manc Group
News
No trams to run through major Manchester city centre station this weekend
Emily Sergeant
Arguably Manchester city centre’s most important tram stop is set to be out of action this weekend, with no services running through it.
In what is another part of Transport for Greater Manchester‘s (TfGM) ongoing programme of works intended to “maintain and improve” the Metrolink system and ensure tram journeys in Greater Manchester remain “safe, reliable, and accessible”, it’s been confirmed that no trams will run through Cornbrook this weekend.
Due to this, there will be a change to operating patterns across the majority of the Metrolink network on both Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 October.
As is often the case in instances like these, disruption to passengers is expected.
On Saturday and Sunday [5 and 6 October], no trams will operate through Cornbrook.
There will be a change to operating patterns and replacement bus services will be in operation.
On Saturday (5 October), the tram service pattern will change to Altrincham – Old Trafford, Bury – Ashton-under-Lyne, East Didsbury – Firswood, Etihad Campus – Bury (peak time only) / Victoria (after peak only), Manchester Airport – Firswood, Rochdale Town Centre – Deansgate-Castlefield (via Exchange Square), and The Trafford Centre – Wharfside.
Similarly, on Sunday (6 October), the only difference to the above service pattern is that the Etihad Campus tram will only run to Victoria, not Bury.
Services will operate every 12 minutes, except for on the Eccles line, where no trams will run at all.
TfGM is also warning that there may be changes to the first and last tram times during these works, but, in bid to help people still get to their destinations, three bus replacement services will operate from Firswood to Victoria, Old Trafford to Piccadilly, and Eccles to Piccadilly.
No trams will run through major Manchester city centre station Cornbrook this weekend / Credit: TfGM
The Old Trafford to Piccadilly bus service will run through Wharfside, while the Eccles to Piccadilly will travel via MediaCity.
“These works are a vitally important part of maintaining a safe and reliable network for all our customers,” explained
Ian Davies, who is TfGM’s Interim Network Director for Metrolink, said these works are “a vitally important part” of maintaining the Metrolink, and that work has been scheduled by TfGM to “minimise disruption to passengers and residents as much as possible”.
Daisy Jackson -
12th January 2023 
