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Manchester Pride

Creative Tourist

Welcome to your alternative guide to Manchester Pride 2024, showcasing arts and cultural highlights from around the city.

Of course there’s the main Pride celebrations going on over August Bank Holiday Weekend, including the Gay Village Party, The Parade, and Superbia. But you already know all about that.

What you might not know about are the satellite exhibitions, theatre shows and music events going on in venues like People’s History Museum, HOME and SOUP.

Check out our top picks of those more alternative events below, along with some hospitality highlights, and hatch a plan for one of Manchester’s most anticipated weekends of the year.

For more events taking place over Pride weekend, check out our August Bank Holiday guide.

 

Our top picks

Ducie Street Warehouse

Ducie Street Warehouse, Ground Floor, Warehouse, Ducie St,, Manchester, M1 2TP - Visit now

Ducie Street Warehouse presents four days of celebrations for the ultimate Pride weekender, including a Freedom To Be Party on Friday 23 August in collaboration with the club night ‘Make Me Feel’ by Feel Good Club, Ducie Street x Micky’s Saturday Brunch Party and Dance To Your Own Pride party on Saturday 24 August, and an all-day brunch offering from Ducie Street Warehouse on Sunday 25 and Monday 26 August.

Find out more

Sexy Fish Manchester

Sexy Fish Manchester, 1 The Avenue, Deansgate, Manchester , M3 3AP - Visit now

Sushi lovers, take note. Deansgate’s flashy and fun-loving Japanese restaurant Sexy Fish Manchester is throwing a bottomless Drag Brunch on Sunday 25 August. Kicking off at 12pm and priced at £58 per person, it features unlimited sushi, drinks packages and fierce performances from drag artists Krystal Versace and Jonbers Blonde, both stars of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK.

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Queer Lit (Social Refuge)

Queer Lit (Social Refuge), 27 Great Ancoats Street, Manchester, M45AJ - Visit now

Okay, so this one isn’t an event, but it’s an amazing place that deserves recognition. Great Ancoats Street’s Queer Lit is a bookshop, coffee shop and events space that fosters creativity, connection, and empowerment within and beyond the LGBTQ+ community.

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Queer Lit Event Space Wall Art NQ-MCR
Demi Sheridan

Canto

Canto, Fairbairn Unit A, Fairbairn Building, Henry Street, Manchester, M4 5DH - Visit now

Got yourself a pride wristband? Make use of it at both Canto and El Gato Negro, who are offering 25% off their main menus to all Pride-goers. The discount applies on Friday to Sunday from 12pm to 4pm, and on Monday it runs all day — perfect for those much-needed hangover cures!

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Seasonal Guides

Festive Happening Camerata
Christmas Theatre and Concerts

As the big day approaches, you can count on theatres and concert halls across the North to pull out all the festive stops.
New Year’s Eve in the North

We’ve rounded up some of the city’s best options for seeing out 2025 in style – from wallet-friendly parties to some truly lavish experiences.
Champagne flute swirling in front of a Christmas tree.
Christmas in the North

If you’re looking for alternative or interesting things to do over Christmas in Manchester and the North, look no further.
A smiling market trader shows a customer a painting in Victoria Baths
Christmas Shopping in the North

Back away from the high street and support some of Manchester’s best independent makers, sellers and curators this Christmas.
Hawkmoor Christmas Image
Christmas food and drink

The holidays are coming – time to eat, drink and be merry for Christmas 2025. Don’t do anything we wouldn’t do.

Visit Blackpool.
Christmas Markets in the North

Makers, bakers and curators will be out in force this festive season as the North’s best Christmas Markets whirr into action.
Creepy capers across Manchester and the North for little and big ghosts with the most.
Halloween in Manchester and the North

As Halloween approaches read our guide to the creepy capers happening for little and big ghosts with the most.

Destinations

Image by Jonathan Schofield.
Spotlight on

Walking Tours in Manchester by Jonathan Schofield

Presenting the best walking tours in Manchester for history buffs, culture enthusiasts, and those looking to scratch beneath the surface of the city.

Take me there

Culture Guides

Sepia image of a courtroom with the words 'Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird’
Theatre in the North

Winter brings a huge haul of seasonal shows, as well as productions that resolutely veer away from the fairy lights.

Music in the North

Manchester’s closing out the year – and looking to the new one – with a run of gigs from some of the country’s best underground exports.

Exhibitions in the North

This season, exhibitions across the North West feel attuned to the world beneath the world – the forces and stories shaping how we see, feel and imagine.

A performer in a bright red costume sits on a snowy stage set, holding a large snowball between their legs with a surprised expression. The colourful winter backdrop features snowflakes, hills, a snowman, and a traffic light with glowing lights.
Family things to do in the North

Whether you’re after storybook theatre, museum wanderings or illusion-bending play spaces, there’s plenty to keep curiosity ticking through winter and beyond.

A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night
Cinema in the North

There's no shortage of great films out at the moment, whether you're looking for the latest blockbuster, that hot arthouse flick fresh from Cannes or a cosy classic.

Food and Drink in the North

Hear ye, hear ye. Take some eating-out tips from our wintertime guide to food and drink in Manchester and the North.