The three best Manchester Pride parties

Manchester Pride these days is all about the off-Canal-Street adventures you can have when thousands of queer folk of all persuasions descend on the city. Buy a wristband and drink lager on the cobbles if you must, but here’s how to have a cracking Pride outside the Gay Village…

Drunk At Vogue: ‘Gay Sex in the 70s’ Party

Named after the self-explanatory documentary, Drunk At Vogue’s Pride special harks back to post-Stonewall, pre-AIDS disco hedonism at the Northern Quarter’s finest NYC-style backstreet dive bar (pictured, Fri 24 Aug, Kraak, 11 Stevenson Square, M1 1DB, £6, 11pm-late, www.facebook.com).

HomoElectric August Bank Holiday Showdown

Party hard at Legends before the place is pulled down to make way for another hotel. HomoElectric will be dancing on the ashes to tunes from guests The Lovely JonJo, Holestar and Speed Queen’s Lucy Locket (Sat 25 Aug, Legends, 4-6 Whitworth Street, M1 3QW, 10pm-4am, £12, www.homoelectric.com).

Bollox Queer Pride Party

The city’s stalwart gay alternative throws a three-for-one in the labyrinth of Legends where guest rooms are given over to ‘Madonna Aid’ (she needs all the help she can get) and the Tranarchy collective’s annual ‘Vogue Brawl’ for the best and nastiest shape ‘n’ shade-throwing in town (Sun 26 Aug, Legends, 10pm- late, £7, www.wegottickets.com).

Thanks to www.manhattanchester.blogspot.co.uk.