Village businesses statement

From the VLBA August Bank holiday:

"We believe in keeping it safe – keeping it local Manchester’s Gay Village: We are open and are operating at a reduced capacity and recommend you to book/register in advance. Please remember Manchester is in a local lockdown and we wish you a safe August Bank holiday weekend”

For several decades, the Manchester Pride Festival has been a key part of the annual LGBTQ+ calendar in Greater Manchester.  It has been a time for the LGBTQ+ community and our allies to celebrate just how far we have come on the road to equality, and reenergise ourselves for the struggles ahead.

In a world which often tells us there is something wrong with who we are and who we love, it has been a weekend of coming together as a community to celebrate our richly diverse identities.  It has also been an amazing party weekend and will always hold a place of special significance in many of our hearts.

As most of you will know due to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, Manchester Pride in Manchester’s Gay Village and the Manchester Pride Festival  at Mayfield Depot has been cancelled this year.

Whilst Manchester’s Gay Village is still open for business there is not any planned activity or entertainment for the Bank Holiday weekend, and the Gay Village venues will be continuing to operate on a reduced capacity with social distancing measures in place as they have been doing for the past few weeks.

Greater Manchester is currently under a localised lockdown under the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions on Gatherings) (North of England) Regulations of 2020, and a major incident has been declared in the region due to the recent spike in cases across the GM localities.

The authorities are also implementing an enhanced track and trace system in GM and businesses are being asked to actively collect peoples details to help any targeted tracing of people involved in any further localised spikes of coronavirus infections.

The businesses are working hard to ensure the social distancing guidelines are being implemented and keeping people safe.  If you do visit Manchester’s Gay Village over the August Bank Holiday Weekend don’t be surprised to have to queue for potentially a long time and depending on numbers you might even be asked to leave.

Visitors will be actively discouraged from bringing alcohol into the area and from using Sackville Gardens or any of the other empty spaces.

We very much hope that we will be able to welcome you back to an even bigger and better Manchester Pride Festival in 2021.

In Pride and Solidarity.

Published: 26-Aug-2020: (5973)