Remembering 'Gaychester' - the lost nightclubs and bars from Manchester's Gay Village in the 1990s

This weekend marks one of the biggest events in the city's cultural calendar - Manchester Pride.

Taking place over the August Bank Holiday every year, Manchester Pride celebrates the city's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender culture and life. As always, the festivities will be centred around Canal Street in Manchester's Gay Village, which has grown since the start of the 1990s to become one of Europe's most lively gay areas.

Known as the Village, the area is one of the most vibrant nightlife spots in Manchester City Centre, but it wasn't until the 1990s that it welcomed its first openly gay bar, Manto. By the end of the decade, the Village was both the setting and inspiration for the culturally radical TV show Queer As Folk.

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In the early 1990s, the Village had transformed into a flamboyant and booming part of Manchester's nightlife - one synonymous with drag queens and gay ravers - it was dubbed 'Gaychester' in 1993 by the Independent newspaper. And for a while the name stuck, attracting revellers from all over the UK to party at its bustling nightspots.

Even today, the Village has a whole host of successful LGBTQ+ venues built on the legacy of 'Gaychester' including G-A-Y, Vanilla, Cruz 101 and Bar Pop - as well as the Village pub stalwarts including the Rembrandt and the New Union Hotel.

But many of those pioneering nightclubs and bars that made the Village in the 1990s have sadly now gone. But to celebrate Manchester Pride, the Manchester Evening News has taken a nostalgic look back at the 1990s venues that are now sadly lost, as well those of the era that have stood the test of time.

Of course, this isn't a