Canal Street (Manchester)
Canal Street is a street in Manchester city centre in North West England and the centre of Manchester's gay village. The pedestrianised street, which runs along the west side of the Rochdale Canal, is lined with gay bars and restaurants. At night time, and in daytime in the warmer months, the street is filled with visitors, often including LGBT tourists from all over the world. The northern end of the street meets Minshull Street and the southern meets Princess Street; part of the street looks across the Rochdale Canal into Sackville Gardens.
Location
Mainstream popularity[edit]
This success led to a number of problems, however, with a resultant influx of straight drinkers including hen parties into the village and tensions amongst the existing LGBT community.[14] Increasingly strict and cautious door policies on some bars attempted to keep some straight people out with questioning on the door to test for "gayness"[15] however this also caused unintended consequences with some LGBT people being turned away.[16] As the popularity of the village grew, so did problems of incoming crime.[17]
In 2004 a boycott was launched against a new Slug and Lettuce bar by the village community because the chain refused to support Manchester Pride, eventually leading to its closure.[4]
By 2006, concerns were being raised about falling revenues in the bars on Canal Street.[18] In a 2013 article in Mancunian Matters, a community based web newspaper and webzine, Amy Lofthouse explored the change within Canal Street: "For more than 20 years Canal Street has been viewed as the centre of the gay community in Manchester… but campaigners want to ensure dangerous stereotypes of it being a 'gay ghetto' are left behind. With clubs, pubs and restaurants, the village has also become the focus of many a night out for students, hen parties and friends on a weekend away. This change however has not been welcomed by everyone on the street. Earlier in the year there was controversy over club door policies and there were fears that Canal Street’s role in the LGBT community was being diluted. Nowhere was the change in the Street shown more starkly than with the closure of Manto in October 2013. Manto was one of the most iconic bars in the area, having been a fixture on the street for 22 years. Manto's re-opened in 2015 under a new name of ON Bar initially struggling it found its feet again in 2016 when the London owners head hunted Tony D Cooper from the successful Via further up Canal St." Lofthouse quotes Amelia Lee of LGBT Youth North West as feeling that Canal Street is over-emphasised as an all-encompassing gay area: "It’s more for hen-do events than for LGBT people. I think it has grown too big and now needs to readjust and diversify to cater for more needs of the LGBT community."[19]
This change in the types of clientele attending or moving in and out of the area in recent years is believed to have led to a number of homophobic attacks such as the one on Simon Brass, who was thrown into the canal and left to drown by a gang of muggers in June 2013.[20]
In February 2015, gay activist Peter Tatchell added his voice to the debate about the changing nature of the area in the Manchester Evening News, saying "It would be very wrong if there were unilateral attempts to change its character. I am all in favour of it evolving but it has to be with the agreement of the LGBTI community. As a society the need for specific gay districts may decline but we are not there yet. It would be a backward step to de-gay Canal Street."[21]
Redevelopment[edit]
Further concerns for the future of the gay village have come about from redevelopment in and around the area. 800 "upmarket" homes are planned to be built overlooking Canal Street, and the existing community including bar owners running late licences fear that "there will be untenable conflict of interest between future residents and longstanding LGBT establishments". There has been criticism of a "lack of consultation", and tensions exacerbated by early developer plans referring to the area as "Portland Village" instead.[22] Others believe that the area has lost its former attraction and finds itself "at a crossroads".[23]
Following a strategic review of the area in 2020, Manchester City Council, in partnership with Consultancy HATCH,[24] launched the Manchester's Gay Village Action Plan in 2024,[25] which aims to 'maintain, preserve and improve the LGBT quarter' based on consultation, feedback and further planned collaboration with the LGBT+ community.
Gay Village and the canal locks
Canal Street bars
Canal Street during the annual Gay Pride event
Canal Street
Canal Street
Canal Street
Defaced Canal Street sign
