Canal Street, Manchester
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Canal Street looks across the Rochdale Canal into Sackville Park in the centre of Manchester, UK. The street is the main focus of Manchester's gay community and is lined with gay bars, clubs, cafes and shops. At night time the street is filled with partygoers, many of whom are gay and lesbian tourists from all over the world. The Gay Pride festival, known as Mardi Gras, or Manchester Pride, is held in this street and the surrounding area during the second half of August each year. The event culminates with a three day festival known as the 'Big Weekend', which is held over the August Bank Holiday weekend.
History
Canal street was built alongside the construction of the Rochdale Canal, with pubs built to service the users of the canal. In the 1960s, the canals of Northern England declined in usage due to the collapse of the cotton industry. The Canal Street area then began to attract the gay community, who moved into the area from the 1970s. As the confidence of gays in the UK improved, more and larger bars opened along the canal side, turning Canal Street into the largest gay village in Europe.
In the early 1990's Manto bar opened. This was viewed as something of a revolution as Manto had large glass windows, allowing the casual 'passer by' to view what was going on inside. Previously many establishments catering for the gay community were often keen to 'conceal' activities from the general public. As the decade continued more and more establishments began to open, each with their own modern 'feel'. Perhaps one of the most well known is Spirit (located next door to Manto), which first opened for business in 1999. Manto was to be breifly renamed as Bar 46; however, the Manto name returned to Canal Street in 2003
The new millenium has seen Canal Street continue to expand in terms of entertainment venues. In July 2000 Essential, a night club aimed at the gay community, opened in nearby Bloom Street. This club is perhaps the largest and most well known gay club outside of London. Owned by Nigel Martin Smith, the former manager of the well known 1990's boyband Take That, Essential is especially popular with the younger 'crowd'. Martin Smith expanded his business interests in the Manchester gay village by opening Queer in 2003 and Falcon (a bar aimed exclusively at men) in 2005.
The gay scene on Canal Street was a focus of the show Queer as Folk, broadcast by Channel Four in 1999..
Bars and Clubs on and around Canal Street
- Manto, the bar scenes in Queer as Folk were filmed at Manto
- Spirit, this venue was filmed to provide the gay bar scene when Coronation Street ran a gay storyline centred around the character of Todd Grimshaw
- New Union
- AXM Bar
- Queer
- Falcon, a men only bar opened in May 2005
- Hollywood Show Bar
- New York New York
- Rembrandt
- Churchill's
- Via Fosser
- Thompson's Arms
- Cruz 101
- Vanilla, a venue aimed at the lesbian community
External Links
- Queer Quarter (http://www.queerquarter.com) News and views from Canal Street
- Essential Nightclub (http://www.essentialmanchester.com) Information on this major Manchester gay nightclub
- AXM Bar (http://www.axm-mag.com/axmbar/index.htm)
- Panoramic view of Canal Street (http://www.bbc.co.uk/manchester/content/panoramas/canal_street_places_360.shtml) from the BBC website (http://www.bbc.co.uk)