Tens of thousands of LGBTQ+ people and allies gather to walk in the parade every year, as the city streets become awash with colour and celebration.
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The Manchester Pride Parade will return in 2022. Credit: Supplied
Thousands more are expected to head out to watch the parade for the first time since 2019.
The March for Peace theme has been chosen to highlight the importance of peace, and work towards a world where all LGBTQ+ people can live and love without prejudice.
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Mark Fletcher, CEO at Manchester Pride, said: “In 2020 we had decided to theme the parade as our March for Peace. Sadly the pandemic took hold and we were unable to take to the streets.
“As we look around the world today, this theme has become even more relevant.
“Conflict within and outside of our communities is rife and we are calling on our LGBTQ+ communities and allies around Greater Manchester to join in and support us as we March for Peace.”
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Returning after two years, the Manchester Pride Parade will be a feel-good procession that organisers say will ‘wow crowds across Manchester and send the world a big, bright, colourful message that everyone deserves to live and love with peace’.
Mark continued: “LGBTQ+ people have achieved so much in recent history, however, homophobic and transphobic hate crimes have increased in recent years, with many people still facing discrimination because of their identity.
“We are calling on our communities and its allies to come together, embrace differences, and to recognise that everyone deserves the right to be who they are and live their lives in peace.
“Our Parade message is loud and clear this year: No one is really free unless we are all free, and no one gets left behind.”
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Registration is open for organisations to take part in the Parade, with entry categories refreshed in 2022 to enable more LGBTQ+ organisations and groups to participate for free, subsidised by larger organisations to wish to participate.
Manchester Pride is also striving to make its events greener, and so are encouraging groups to register the parade as walking entries rather than floats.
Glitzy Manchester restaurant KAJI has quietly shut down
Daisy Jackson
A glamorous Manchester restaurant famed for its Japanese cooking and sushi has quietly closed its doors for good, it seems.
KAJI, on Bridge Street, has pulled table reservations and repossession notices have been stuck into its windows.
The glitzy, futuristic restaurant made a pretty big impact on the city’s dining scene since opening in 2022 – but not always for the right reasons.
It first launched as MUSU, and hit headlines when vandals smashed the windows and threw paint all over the restaurant space in the middle of a busy Valentine’s Day service.
It attracted other famous faces too, including Man City boss Pep Guardiola, and Jason Derulo.
Then in 2024, the restaurant rebranded to KAJI, promising dishes cooked over fire in ‘homage to ancient Japanese cooking techniques’.
And last year it received a review in The Telegraph, where William Sitwell said that KAJI was ‘all tummies, bald heads, tattoos and heat’, describing the experience of eating there as ‘brash (and pricey) torture’.
KAJINotices in the windows of KAJI
But now, it appears the business – which launched a new menu concept just weeks ago – has oh-so-quietly shut its doors for good.
When you try to book a table, no availability is showing.
And walking past its glamorous Bridge Street location now, you can see repossession notices have been displayed in the windows.
It appears that the landlords of the building took possession way back on 10 April – and KAJI has been silent on social media ever since.
‘Prolific’ burglar jailed following crime spree with dozens of incidents across Greater Manchester
Emily Sergeant
A ‘prolific’ burglar has been jailed following a four-week crime spree in Greater Manchester.
Callum Daniels, of no fixed abode, appeared at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court yesterday (Wednesday 29 April 2026), after previously pleading guilty to 19 offences committed over a four‑week period between December 2025 and January 2026, primarily in the Ashton-under‑Lyne and Audenshaw areas of Tameside.
His sentencing comes after an investigation, led by officers from Greater Manchester Police‘s (GMP) Tameside Neighbourhood Crime Team, linked Daniels to dozens of offences – including burglaries of homes and business, attempted burglaries, and thefts from vehicles.
In late December of last year (19 December 2025), Daniels broke into a business on Stockport Road by gaining access through the roof and stealing goods.
He later targeted another premises on two separate occasions, forcing entry and stealing cash, alcohol, and cigarettes, and then in January 2026, he targeted properties in Ashton where he attempted to force doors, searched vehicles, and in one case, even entered a family home while the occupants slept upstairs, and proceeded to steal high‑value items like laptops, a games console, and bank cards.
Police trawled through CCTV footage, clothing comparisons, and recovered stolen property that linked Daniels to the offences, before he was subsequently arrested on 20 January 2026.
Daniels was sentenced and jailed for five years this week.
Speaking following Daniels’ sentencing, Sergeant Playford, of GMPs’ Tameside Neighbourhood Team, said: “Callum Daniels carried out a sustained series of offences which caused fear and disruption across several communities. His actions showed a clear pattern of targeting homes and vehicles during the night, regardless of the impact on victims.
“In total, more than 20 victims across Tameside were impacted, with losses including cash, personal belongings, household items and damage to properties.
Daisy Jackson -
15th April 2022 
