Stay and hang with queers in Manchester

Canal Street is Manchester's Village, a strip of bars along the water where people spill out onto the cobbles. Spend the afternoon wandering the Northern Quarter for record shops and cafés, then walk to Castlefield to watch the light fade over the canals and the old viaducts. Back in the Village, Vanilla is the long-running lesbian night, now on Sackville Street, with dancing that goes late.

Over the August bank holiday, Pride fills Canal Street and the parade loops through town. Any other weekend, a pint by the water with new friends is plenty.