The fall and future of Manchester Pride

Saki Yew felt “joyful” as she walked off stage at this year’s Manchester Pride.

The former Drag Race UK queen had spent weeks rehearsing and preparing costumes for the performance in the city’s Sackville Gardens in August.

It was an effort he was happy to make for one of the UK’s biggest LGBTQ+ events, and the crowd’s response was worth it.

But he said there was silence when he asked Pride organizers to pay.

The charity behind Manchester Pride went bankrupt Dozens of performers, vendors and backstage workers went unpaid this week.

In a statement confirming it had gone into liquidation, bosses blamed “a combination of rising costs, falling ticket sales and an ambitious revamp of the format aimed at challenging these problems”.

But some believe repeated warning signs about the event’s sustainability have gone unheeded.

Manchester Pride began as a two-week fundraising event in 1985.

It has since grown in size and influence and became the first UK organization to add black and brown stripes to its rainbow flag to represent LGBTQ+ people.

By 2025 it was one of the largest Pride events in the UK, alongside Manchester, London and Brighton’s annual celebrations.

With its growing size came bigger names like Ariana Grande, Sophie Ellis-Bexter, Anastacia and Zara Larsson.

This year’s star-studded line-up included Nelly Furtado, Olly Alexander and former Little Mix star Leigh-Anne.

But there were signs that all was not well behind the scenes, according to people working at this year’s event.

Event manager Abbie Ashall had worked at Manchester Pride since 2023 and was the project manager for this year’s parade.

He told BBC Newsbeat that many charities have been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic and there is evidence that Manchester Pride has also been affected.

Abbie said she noticed she was given tight budgets and failed to replace former colleagues who left.

But Abbie also says Pride’s organizers are launching Mardi Gras, a two-day, ticketed event at Manchester’s capacity Mayfield Depot this year.

Attendees reported small crowds and Abbie said the event was not considered a success.

Contractor Chris O’Connor worked as a runner for Manchester Pride for five years; He describes the role as a mix of organizational and “troubleshooter-firefighter.”

He said working ahead of previous Pride weekends had been “a joy” but that 2025 had presented him with “red flags” and “significant issues” to address from the start.

He believes Manchester Pride, which reported a loss of around £468,000 in 2023, needs to keep better control of its finances.

Both Chris and Abbie say they are still indebted for their work on the 2025 event.

In Chris’s case, he says a lack of salary prevented him from visiting his son, who had just started university in Ireland.

Saki Yew tells Newsbeat she has a “trouble-free life” and has “bills and groceries to pay”.

Like Chris, Saki believes Pride organizers could have been more transparent about their financial problems while people waited to pay.

“This is extremely disrespectful,” says Saki.

“You left us in the dark, disrespected everyone for what they did and what they provided for you.”

Some suspect that a lack of communication from Manchester Pride organizers about payment is linked to the failed bid to host Europride in 2028.

The international event often attracts large crowds and Abbie believes Pride bosses are counting on “funding from Manchester City Council and beyond”.

Hopes of potential Europride investment were dashed when it was announced earlier this month that Ireland’s Limerick and Clare had won the bid.

“I think they took too big a hit and it was a miss,” says Abbie.

The exact details of the circumstances that led to Manchester Pride’s liquidation are not yet known.

But the Charity Commission, which works to ensure organizations in England and Wales comply with the law, is “assessing concerns” after Pride’s bosses submitted a “serious incident report regarding its finances”.

There are also questions about future events in Manchester and how they will shape themselves.

It’s not hard to find people on the city streets who attended this year’s Pride and want to see the celebration return.

Kieran, 24, from Oldham, believes “this is something everyone in Manchester is looking forward to.”

“It brings together all kinds of cultures and people,” he says.

Lexi agrees that Pride is “not only a huge part of the culture of this city, but also very important to the community.”

“If we don’t have pride, what else do we have?”

Lexi said attending Pride events after coming out was a “really important time” and that “it would be terrible if people lost that opportunity.”

Manchester City Council said it would “support a new chapter for Manchester Pride weekend next August”.

Lexi is optimistic.

“I would be happy to put my money into something, especially if the money would go back into the community,” he says.

There were complaints about events being held outside Manchester’s gay village and the focus being on demonstrations rather than supporting LGBTQ+ causes.

“Maybe there is a way to create a cheaper, more sustainable Pride,” Lexi hopes.

But for workers who may have been dependent, trust was lost as well as money.

“This charity exists to platform and support queer artists and practitioners,” says Abbie.

“To have all these people left at loose ends when it’s a charity that aims to lift them up more than anyone else – that’s just incredibly frustrating and really sad.”

The BBC contacted Manchester Pride for comment but they did not respond.

One Statement shared on social mediaManchester Pride’s Board of Trustees expressed “regret” for the delays in communication but said they were “determined not to jeopardize financial opportunities whilst our discussions continue”.

He stated that they hope to find a way to continue supporting contributors and that they “sincerely regret those who will be financially harmed by the current situation.”

“We have put our hearts and souls into celebrations and community events for two decades,” he added.

“We hope and believe that this will leave a positive and lasting legacy for the Pride Movement in Greater Manchester.”

Additional reporting by Georgia Levy-Collins.

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