biography_square button_minus button_plus close_artbutton exhibitionarrow_left exhibitionarrow_right follow_button home_sq-artefacetsViewArtefacts home_sq-exhibitionViewExhibitions home_sq-sqaureSupportUs home_sq-uploadUploadArtefact artist dj keyword_3 industry keyword_member magglass newburger onthisday_button profileicon randomiser_button reload_button soundcloud twitter uploadbutton zoom_in
In the last 30 days the archive has grown by 85 new artefacts, 16 new members, 10 new people and places.
Donate

Details

Added 26th August 2016 by Abigail

Featured in the following Online Exhibitions:
Queer Noise
Square Peg, Round Hole: decades of (gay) involvement in Manchester.

Artefact

Press
Manchester Gay Centre, 61a Bloom Street
1985

(Image source: BBC People's History of Pop.)

Paul South, a former member of the largely forgotten but pioneering out gay rock band, Handbag form London, plays a gig at Manchester's Gay Centre, which at this point was on Bloom Street.

Songwriter & broadcaster Tom Robinson said of Handbag in 1977:

'What makes me mad is that music papers are always reviewing relatively obscure bands from America like Television or the Tubes, but they ignore bands in England like Handbag - who make the Tubes look like Andy Pandy. They've been banned everywhere they've been on. People can't see them.'

Emily Crompton - an expert on the inspiring history of the Gay Centre (now known as the LGBT Centre) in Manchester writes:

"Manchester's Gay Centre was housed in 61A Bloom Street from 1981 – 1988 and it accommodated a huge host of services including several phone lines including Lesbian Link, Manchester Gay Switchboard, and Friend as well as having meeting rooms. It
ran a youth club and launched a light night café called SNAX to bring in much needed revenue. Mancunian Gay, a magazine, (later Gay Life) was also launched in this basement, as was Lesbian Express (but that only lasted for 3 issues!)."

Eventually, in 1988, funds were raised for a purpose-built LGBT Centre in Manchester on Sidney Street (the first of its kind in Europe) and it remains there to this day.
Share:

Latest Discussion

If you'd like to leave a comment, please Login