The amazing transformation of Manchester's purpose-built LGBT+ centre from 'grotty basement' to today

A new exhibition shining the light on Manchester’s LGBT Centre over the years has opened at Kampus to coincide with the 54th anniversary of the Stonewall riots this week.

The first designated ‘gay centre’ in Manchester was held in a basement on Oxford Road in 1978 and was used as a base for members of the Manchester Gay Alliance to work from. Having occupied a number of other basements in the 70s and the 80s, plans for a purpose-built centre came to fruition in 1987 at the same time as the Government earmarked plans to introduce Section 28 into law.

The centre, on Sidney Street, was officially unveiled on November 27, 1988, where it became a hub for the Manchester Gay Switchboard and also hosted youth groups and social events. It became a focal point for LGBTQ+ people in Manchester for 32 years before it was demolished in 2020.

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Now, in its place, a bright gold building named The Proud Place was unveiled in 2022 by LGBTQ+ youth charity the Proud Trust. As like other incarnations before it, the building serves as a place for the community to network and seek support. But it’s a far stretch from what it used to be.

Paul Fairweather, Manchester’s first ever gay men's officer, has been a part of Manchester’s LGBT+ history since he moved to the city in 1978. He remembers the ‘really tiny and grotty basement’ at Oxford Road and the various other locations since then which featured windows above head-height to avoid people looking in.

“The original LGBT Centre on Sidney Street was very different to what it is now,” Paul, 67, tells the M.E.N. “It was one-storey and it didn’t have a lot of space. People weren’t necessarily out at the