Canal Street in Manchester is the focus of Manchester’s infamous Gay Village, now one of the most recognised gay quarters in the world.
 
Overlooking the Rochdale Canal, the street is lined with gay bars, restaurants and cafés and attracts lesbian and gay visitors from around the globe and around the corner. Perhaps most widely known as the setting for Channel Four’s groundbreaking drama, Queer As Folk, The Village is one of the most flamboyant nightlife destinations in the North West - where anything goes and frequently does. The summer months bring crowds to the continental style café culture now that most bars and restaurants have tables and chairs out on the street, and of course Manchester Pride in August is the highlight of many people's big gay calendar.
 
Canal Street's heritage goes back nearly half a century. As a result of the decline of the cotton industry when the Canal fell into commercial disuse - the resulting dilapidation and lack of street lighting presented its own opportunity to gay men on the prowl...
 
The Gay Village really started to take off when a number of pubs began opening their doors and their arms to gay men and lesbians. Some of the oldest bars such as New Union, and Napoleons became firmly established gay venues and were soon joined by the likes of New York New York and Cruz 101. The opening of Mantos as a modern bar with windows looking out onto Canal Street (and therefore windows that looked from Canal Street back in!) heralded a change of pace for Manchester gay nightlife.
 
Since then, the area has seen a huge number of bars and clubs opening (...and some closing... and then reopening). After the worldwide success of Queer As Folk - popularity with the local LGBT community slightly wavered as a result of the tourism that the programme brought to the area and some felt that the Gay Village’s identity was threatened. However, today, Manchester’s Gay Village goes from strength to strength - Canal Street has never had it so good!