Manchester Pride's 21st Birthday - A personal account...

Angie and Tina, lucky winners of the recent VIP Competition for Manchester Pride’s 21^st Birthday in August 2011 speak about their experiences of their three day weekend in Manchester…

Hello Manchester,

I still can’t believe we won, wow... My name is Anj, I work in customer care and live in Hull East Yorkshire with my beautiful fiancé Tina. We’ve been together 3 years in April, she’s my soul mate and I love her very much.

We are regular visitor’s to Manchester we particularly enjoy our visit to the gay village and everything else from the Printworks and Hard Rock Cafe to the shopping areas there is always something to do. The gay village is fantastic! We like going to Churchill’s then Via to see Valentino Drag King then we wind down in Taurus, such a relaxing place to finish your night.

On the day of the parade the song “Don’t rain on my parade came to mind”, but the sun shone and what a fantastic parade it was, everyone in the street joined in, the atmosphere was incredible and all the work that had gone into the floats & the organisation of it all was very much appreciated. It was good to see the support of public sector organisations as well as private companies and everyone else who supported Manchester Pride, from toddlers to one man and his dog.

Being a VIP had its advantages which was great from having shelter, nice clean and well equipped toilets, to mingling with the performers who were all brilliant. 

We met some corrie actors /actresses especially Samia Smith (Maria), she was lovely , we spent some time chatting to her she was very down to earth, she even joined her boyfriend in the main arena, what a lovely girl!

When we visit Manchester one bar we love to visit is Taurus, friendly staff, relaxing atmosphere and the food is excellent too. On Pride weekend Polly, the owner, is as always a good sport and forever game for a laugh, he performed outside Taurus for a very long time in his high heels!

Having all those fabulous performers it was hard to decide whom we liked the most again all brilliant but Pam Ann and Angie Brown we particularly liked.

Staying at Abode Hotel ... WOW it was fantastic, we even saw Michael Caines (the chef who owns the exquisite fine dining restaurant and café in the hotel) when we arrived..

The room was very spacious it had a 42” television, Nintendo Wii, magazines and a very large bed! It was amazing and the staff were great, nothing was too much trouble, service was brilliant, great place to stay - the Gay Village, Piccadilly train station and city centre all 5 minutes away.

If your other half is into watching the local teams, then get them to treat you to a spa treatment at Macdonald Hotel. Oh. My. God. We really enjoyed this, we both had a head massage followed by a gorgeous facial. Thank you Laura and Melanie it was very relaxing. I even heard my self snore!

I would highly recommend it, a beautiful place to visit and we would certainly like to go back again.

If you have not been to Manchester before then put it to the top of your list of places to visit, especially over Manchester Pride – it takes place each August Bank Holiday (the last weekend in August). You will not be disappointed!

To sum up Manchester in one word  

AWESOME

Manchester, all our love,

Tina & Anj xxx

For even more information visit the official Visit Manchester LGBT website.
Manchester Pride

Where to stay:
Abode Hotel Manchester
MacDonald Manchester Hotel & Spa

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