The Gay Village in Manchester

The Gay Village 2
Manchester City Centre

• AXM Bar
  10 Canal Street, Manchester M1 3EZ.
  Tel: 0161-236 6005. Fax: 0161-236 5118.
  Email: haydn@axm-bar.co.uk.
  Website: www.axm-bar.co.uk.
  A stylish contemporary bar serving a menu of quality food in opulent surroundings. Free membership available to ensure we keep a predominantly gay clientele. DJs every Thursday to Sunday nights, with special themed nights and events. No tracksuits or football shirts.
  
  
• Baa Bar
  27 Sackville Street, Manchester M1 3LZ. Tel: 0161-247 7799.
  This is reputedly the place for cheap drinks. Not gay run but a welcome is extended to all on a non-discriminatory basis. Open late seven nights a week. Mixed clientele.
  
  
• Bar Below
  34 Canal Street, Manchester M1 3WD. Tel: 0161-923 4720.
  Small swish basement bar located at the corner of Canal Street and Sackville Street. Recently refurbished. Reputedly one of the best stocked bars in the Gay Village, with an extensive range of spirits and wines
  
  
• Bar Med
  109 Princess Street, Manchester M1 6JB.
  Tel: 0161-200 1800. Fax: 0161-200 1801.
  Website: www.bar-med.com
  Part of the Bar Med chain and set in the Gay Village, this is a mixed venue with lively party nights. Caters for wedding receptions, anniversaries and private parties. Food take out service during the day - telephone your order and pay on collection.
  
  
• Bookbinders
  10 Minshull Street, Manchester M1 3EF. Tel: 0161-236 4561.
  Once specialising in jazz and swing dance music, now one of the Gay Village's backstreet bars.
  
  
• Charlie's Club
  1 Harter Street, Manchester M1 6HY. Tel: 0161-237 9898.
  Karaoke bar during the week, but becomes a major club venue at weekends. Resident Heart of Soul play soul, funk and hip hop. Alternate Friday nights the cabaret Whim Wham Club is on offer.

46 Canal Street (Formerly Manto)

Eden Bar (formerly Metz Bar)

Via (formerly Via Fossa)

Hotel International

New Union Hotel - Gay-friendly pub

Bar Med

• Churchills
  37 Chorlton Street, Manchester M1 3HN. Tel: 0161-236 5529.
  Website: www.churchillsmanchester.co.uk
  One of the biggest, busiest venues in the gay Village, with entertainment seven nights a week. It has 2 bars - a smaller, quieter traditional bar and a modern bar with stage and dance area. Recently refurbished
  
  
• Company Bar
  28, Richmond Street, Manchester M1 3NB. Tel: 0161-237 9329.
  Website: http://companybarmanchester.com/.
  Claims to be "...one of the best gay bars in the UK. We don't need surveys to tell you this - check for yourself!" Offers "... the friendliest staff, the best service, fantastic music in a friendly atmosphere with the best customers".
  
  
• Coyotes Bar
  14 Chorlton Street, Manchester M1 3HW. Tel: 0161-236 4007
  Email: info@coyotesbar.co.uk . Website: www.coyotesbar.co.uk .
  Advertises 'Pop, Dance and Funky Tunes all night long'.
  
  
• Cruz 101
  Cruz Entertainments Ltd, 101 Princess Street, Manchester M1 6DD.
  Information Line: 0161-237 1554 Tel: 0161-950 0101.
  Email: Cruz@Cruz101.com. Website: www.cruz101.com.
  Open five nights a week and one of Manchester's favourite and long-established gay venues. In-house music from disco to funky house, pop to trance, R'n'B to hard house. Superb decor, reasonable door & bar prices and what they claim is the best state-of-the-art lighting and sound system.
  
  
• Eden (formerly Metz)
  3 Brazil Street (off Canal Street), Manchester M1 3PW.
  Tel: 0161-237 9852. Website: www.edenbar.co.uk
  The Eden bar and grill is on the site of the former Metz Café Bar. Access is via a foot bridge across the Rochdale Canal. This new venue has already established a reputation for good food and drink in relaxed and intimate settings. Ideal for a relaxing summer's day or even a private party.
  
  
• Essential
  8 Minshull Street, Manchester M1 3EF. Tel: 0161-236 0077.
  Email: info@essentialmanchester.com Website: www.essentialmanchester.com
  Boasts Manchester's biggest and busiest gay super-club, two venues in one. Essential Main Arena playing house and dance. The Pop Lounge playing pop and party sounds.
  
  
• Gaia
  46 Sackville Street, Manchester M1 3WF. Tel: 0161-228 1002. Fax: 0161-228 1003.
  A relaxed bar and a regular celebrity haunt offering luxurious sofas, intimate tables for British Fusion cuisine. Advertised as "a stylish tranquil alternative calm in the storm".
  
  
• Hollywood Studio & Lounge
  100 Bloom Street, Manchester M1 3LY. Tel: 0161-228 1666. Fax: 0161-228 7474.
  Website: http://thehollywood.net.
  Live entertainment, top cabaret at weekends, a resolutely gays-only bar, cheap and safe. 4 bars, 3 dance floors, DJs, 24 hour coffee with something going on 7 days a week.
  
  
• Hollywood International Hotel
  34 London Road, Piccadilly, Manchester M1 3QW. Tel: 0161-236 1010.
  Website: www.hollywoodmanchester.com/hotel
  Billed as Europe's largest Gay & Lesbian Hotel, the hotel has a range of rooms from standard singles, through en suite doubles and new club class rooms. Full beakfast is uncluded in the price and there is a 24 hour resident's bar.
  
  
  
• Legends
  4 Whitworth Street, Manchester, M1 3QW. Tel: 0161-236 5400.
  Website: www.legendsmanchester.com.
  Huge dark cruisy establishment with four areas and a men only basement level. Upstairs is dance with pop and handbag house and the men only level has music as hard as the men. Home to "Homoelectric" once a month.
  
  
• Manhattan Show Bar
  54 Bloom Street, Manchester M1 6HS. Tel: 0161-236 6151.
  Reportedly "..."lots of room for dancing, friendly staff and great music!".
  
  
• 46 Canal Street
  (Formerly 'Manto') 46 Canal Street, Manchester M1 3WD. Tel: 0161-236 2667.
  Claimed to be the bar that kick started the Gay Village. Now well into its second decade, as Manto it was refurbished in October 2003 and a new second floor lounge was added.
  
  
• Club Alter Ego
  (Formerly Mutz Nutz). 105 -107 Princess Street, Manchester M1 6DD.
  Tel: 0161-236 9266. Website: www.clubalterego.co.uk.
  Following a £250,000 makeover and name change Club Alter Ego also has a brand new sound system, 2 rooms of house and backroom beats, state of the art lighting rig and décor that would grace any 'New York' night club.
  
  
• Napoleon's
  35 Bloom Street, Manchester M1 3LY. Tel: 0161-336 8800.
  Website: www.napoleons.co.uk.
  Established in 1972, the first gay and lesbian club in what came to be known as the Gay Village. Gay, bisexual, ransvestites and transsexuals welcome. Relaxed and friendly. 3 floors, Video, DJ, quiet basement area, and free entry on Mondays and Thursdays.
  
  
• New Union Hotel (Pub)
  111 Princess Street (corner of Canal Street), Manchester M1 6JB. Tel: 0161-228 1492.
  Website: www.newunionhotel.com
  The original, popular Gay and Lesbian rendezvous, with pleasant outside canalside facilities. Karaoke for gay, lesbian and heteros. Always very busy late night. Uncertain whether this is a gay pub or simply gay friendly, but on the face of it all seem to be welcome as long as they behave. Plenty of nightly entertainment on offer as well as en suite hotel accommodation.
  
  
• New York, New York
  98 Bloom Street, Manchester M1 3LY. Tel: 0161-236 6556.
  Busy fun pub which is popular with Gays of all ages. Resident DJs through the week, late licence on Sunday.
  
  
• Paddy's Goose
  29 Bloom Street, Manchester M1 3JE. Tel: 0161-236 1246 and 0709 042 0819.
  Website: www.paddysgoose.co.uk.
  Gay Bar Pub for an older crowd opposite Chorlton Street Bus Station. Popular transvestite gatherings on Wednesday and Saturday nights. Cask ales, home cooked food and friendly service on offer.
  
  
• Queer
  Canal Street, Manchester M1 3DD. Tel: 0707 424 8247.
  Describes as an "... exclusive gay lifestyle café bar on Canal Street offering a modern, contemporary space at the heart of Manchester gay village". Relaxed daytiime music but full club sounds in the evenings.
  
  
• Rembrandt Hotel & Bars
  33 Sackville Street, Manchester M1 3LZ.
  Tel: 0161-236 1311 & 2435. Fax: 0161-236 4257.
  Email: rembrandthotel@aol.com. Website: www.rembrandthotel.com.
  Very popular bar, hotel and bistro situated in the heart of Manchester's Gay Village. Two bars, first floor bistro overlooking the Rochdale Canal and Sackville Park. The Hotel offers accommodation at very competitive rates, comprising 6 bedrooms (none en suite). Located close to Chorlton Street bus station and virtually beside the newly restored Rochdale Canal, centrally placed for all shops and services. Very moderately priced overnight accommodation, with the usual pub facilities, but fewer than you might expect from the bigger hotels in the city centre.
  
  
• Sp!r!t
  Adjacent to 46 Canal Street, Manchester 1. Tel: 0161-237 9725.
  This celebrated bar restaurant is an important venue in Gay Village night life and quickly established itself as one of the top bars in the Village. The balcony is a must place to be in summertime. Friendly, attentive staff and striking décor make this one of the premier bars in the village.
  
  
• Taurus
  1 Canal Street, Manchester M1 3HE. Tel: 0161-236 4593.
  Fax: 0161-236 5707. Website: www.taurus-bar.co.uk.
  Offering wines, cocktails, champagne and a wide selection of hot and cold food including lovely platters to share. Check the website for detailed menu and wine list. The Joseph Perrier Lounge is available for private hire.
  
  
• Thompson Arms
  Sackville Street, Manchester M1 3LZ. Tel. 0161-228 3012.
  High profile pub next to Chorlton Street Bus Station. Both Gay and Lesbians warmly welcomed here.Large function suite upstairs for up to 200 people. Telephone for details. Regular Lesbian events upstairs.
  
  
• Tribeca & Bed
  50 Sackville Street, Manchester M1 3WF. Tel: 0161-236 8300.
  Fax: 0161-236 8244. Website: www.tribeca-bar.co.uk
  Café Bar & Restaurant in a New York style lounge with Jazz and R'n'B music till the early hours.
  
  
• Vanilla
  39-41 Richmond Street, Manchester M1 3WB.
  Tel: 0161-228 2727. Website: www.vanillagirls.co.uk .
  Describes itself as "the lesbian mecca of the north". Award-winning lesbian club, established in 1998. Best Bar in the UK 2002 and 2003 at the DIVA awards, Europe's leading lesbian magazine.
  
  
• Velvet
  2 Canal Street, Manchester M1 3HE. Tel: 0161-236 9003. Fax: 0161-236 7127.
  Email: velvetoncanalst@hotmail.com. Website: http://velvet-manchester.info
  Sumptuous relaxed interior, modern eclectic music mix and a competitively priced menu. Popular with city diners. Open Monday to Thursday 11.00am - 11.00p, Friday & Saturday 11.00am - 2.00pm. Sunday 11.00am - 10.30pm.
  
  
• Via
  (Formerly Via Fossa)
  28-30 Canal Street, Manchester M1 3EZ. Tel: 0161-236 6523. Fax: 0161-236 5169.
  Website: http://www.via-bar.co.uk.
  Award-winning bar. Cosy and private. Open until 2.00am - very, very busy at weekends - huge, yet still cosy and private. A gothic labyrinth bar serving quality dishes with specials, in a unique relaxed environment. After dinner dancing and with DJs playing good music.
  
  
• View Bar
  (Formerly Prague 5)
  40 Chorlton Street, Manchester M1 3HW. Tel: 0161-236 9033.
  After a refurbishment, a July 2005 relaunch and change of accent more towards good food and music, the old days when Prague 5 dominated Canal Street seem now like a thing of the past. Resident DJ and drag nights with a continuing clientele of mixed (gays and straights).
  
  
• Villagio
  44 Canal Street , Manchester M1 3WD. Tel: 0161-244 5222.
  Website: www.villaggiomanchester.co.uk.
  Villaggio opened in June 2005 on Canal Street, in the heart of Manchester's Gay Village. Spread over two floors, it has a contemporary feel with exposed brickwork, polished wooden floors and stylish lighting. Villaggio offers a modern Italian menu with all food prepared fresh in-house. It's good value for money and a gay-friendly environment.
  

See also:

• Café & Wine Bars in Manchester
• Map of Gay Village
  

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