Manchester Pride Parade 2019 – route, times and best places to watch

Manchester Pride returns this weekend, with the annual festival celebrating the city’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender culture set to be its biggest event yet in 2019.

And for many, the most exciting part of the weekend is the annual Manchester Pride Parade which sees thousands of people pack the city centre streets to cheer on the hundreds more taking part in the parade to celebrate the LGBT+ community.

We can expect plenty of colourful outfits this year on the parade as the theme is Deep Space Pride: A Future World of Equality, which acknowledges the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, an event which kick-started the modern LGBT+ pride movement and the force for organising pride marches on a much bigger scale.

The parade is just one part of the 2019 Manchester Pride festival – which for the first time includes the huge music festival Manchester Pride Live over two days at Mayfield headlined by Ariana Grande, the Gay Village Party headlined by Lulu in the village itself, as well as the Superbia Weekend of arts events, the first Youth Pride MCR, and the ever-poignant Candlelit Village to close the weekend.

Here’s all the information you need to enjoy this year’s parade, including the timings, route, and best places to watch.

Date and time

The Manchester Pride Parade 2019 will be on Saturday August 24th and will start from the Liverpool Road end of Deansgate at 12noon.  It is expected to finish by 3pm at Fairfield Street, close to Manchester Piccadilly railway station.

The route

The parade for 2019 will follow the same route as 2018, with the floats and participants all setting off from along Liverpool Road on Castlefield turning left onto Deansgate by the Hilton Hotel.

The procession will then head down Deansgate before taking a right turn on to Peter Street.  It will continue on past the Central Library on St Peter’s Square before bearing right on to Oxford Street.  There it will continue until turning left on to Portland Street.

It continues along Portland Street until making a right turn on Princess Street at the edge of the Gay Village.  It will then process to turn left on to Whitworth Street, past the village and Sackville Gardens, before arriving at its end point on Fairfield Street, close to Manchester Piccadilly Railway station.

Best places to watch

Manchester Pride have published their route map for this year’s parade which handily includes “vantage points” where you can expect to get the very best view of all the wonderful floats and walking entries this year.

For many, heading to the start of the parade (if you get there early enough) offers the best view – on the corner of Deansgate at the Hilton Hotel with Liverpool Road, where all the floats queue to set off on the parade.

Another great view is at the crossroads of Deansgate and Peter Street, where the procession will turn right, ensuring a great view of all in the parade.

Outside Central Library on St Peter’s Square is the next vantage point marked on the map, where there is plenty of space too if you’re not that keen on the crowds.

Further along the parade on the crossroads of Portland Street and Oxford Street are excellent vantage points.

Or, if you’re heading along a little later, you could simply head straight to the finish line at Fairfield Street where the parade will eventually end at around 2pm.

Weather forecast

The good news is – it’s going to be scorchio in Manchester this weekend!  You’ll be wanting to pack the suncream for this year’s Pride parade – as the current weather forecast is for clear skies and sunshine ALL DAY – with highs of 26 degrees!

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