00:00 "I'm really excited to make the memories. I've had loads of pictures on the stage today. I'm so excited."
00:04 Manchester Pride Festival is back for its annual celebration through the city centre streets.
00:10 The bank holiday weekend kick-starts with a bang as Pride takes place from the 25th to the 28th of this month.
00:18 There are plenty of events throughout the course of the celebrations,
00:22 including the famous Pride Parade on Saturday the 26th.
00:26 And we spoke to local bar owners and workers along Canal Street to find out their thoughts on this year's festival.
00:32 "We've spent about two, three weeks getting this together just from our side, never mind Pride, the organisation.
00:38 For us as a business, there's a couple of bars, we have five outside bars. It's been ongoing.
00:44 And I say, are we tired? Yes, we are. But that's the downside.
00:47 The good side is we're about to kick off today from four o'clock
00:51 and we're looking at about 80,000 people about to hit Manchester's Gay Village,
00:55 which will be absolutely amazing. It doesn't matter whether it rains,
00:59 it doesn't matter whether the wind blows, it's just going to be one big party, come rain or shine.
01:03 I've been involved with it since 1989, in and around, actually working for Pride or running a business.
01:09 So this year is really good. What they've relied on, which I think is really good,
01:12 is made it, brought it back to its grassroots.
01:15 So made it all about the village and the people that use the village and the people that visit the village.
01:19 Pride is really important because it really highlights LGBT causes, really highlights
01:26 LGBT political situations and also raises the profile of Manchester's Gay Village,
01:30 because it is the only village in Europe. It is within a square mile and everybody can walk everywhere.
01:36 You don't need to get to a taxi to go to another venue because it's all here.
01:39 As you can see, we're not even open yet and there's either side of the camera here,
01:43 there's hundreds of people walking around, waiting for it to kick in.
01:46 So I've been told they're above and beyond ticket sales, so that should be fantastic.
01:51 Yeah, Pride is the most exciting, busiest weekend of the year. It's very busy because we're just on the
01:57 on the edge of when the parade finishes as well. So when that finishes, it's like, oof.
02:01 But yeah, yeah, it's a great weekend. Looking forward to it.
02:04 Just ticking everything off the list, getting everything in place, all the drinks are ready,
02:09 everything's ready now, so ready for the weekend.
02:12 Manchester's got such an amazing gay scene, LGBTQ scene, that Pride is just kind of an extra outpouring of
02:23 unity and happiness and yeah, people coming together.
02:26 We've been here 19 years now, so it's not our first rodeo, so hopefully things will go smoothly.
02:33 It should be a great weekend. We've got camp outside from 5 on the stage that is currently being
02:41 constructed now. We've got Clubland 90s 2000 inside and then we've got 25 Manchester Drag Queens on
02:48 Monday outside from 3 and also a drag show Monday evening.
02:52 It's just a no-judgement zone for anything really. It's not just about who you love,
02:59 it's just about who you are as a person and just accepting everyone.
Comments