Canal Street is the centre of Manchester's Gay Village, running along the Rochdale Canal just south of Piccadilly Gardens. It is one of the most famous LGBTQ+ districts in Europe, and its bars and clubs — many with terraces over the canal — are busy on weekdays and absolutely packed at weekends.
The village grew up from the 1980s onward and became so embedded in Manchester culture that it featured prominently in the TV series Queer as Folk. Manchester Pride, held each August, is one of the largest Pride festivals in the UK. The area is genuinely inclusive and welcoming, and has long since broadened out from a purely LGBTQ+ clientele — on a warm summer evening, Canal Street is simply one of the best places to be in northern England.