The LGBT+ Manchester Walking Tour

The LGBT+ Manchester Walking Tour is Manchester’s established guided queer history and culture tour, led by LGBT+ historian Joshua Val Martin, and operated by Free Manchester Walking Tours.

A public tour runs once a month, with the date and start time changing each month. Check Eventbrite for the next available date and book there, or email josh@FMWT.co.uk.

Public tours cost £15 per person.

Private LGBT+ Manchester Walking Tours are also available throughout the year, subject to Josh’s availability. There is no minimum group size: private tours can be arranged for individuals as well as groups, and cost £15 per person.

Josh runs a limited number of queer Manchester tours each year for LGBT+ charities - get in touch if that’s you.

For new dates and tour updates, follow @LGBTTour_MCR on Instagram.

LGBT+ Manchester Walking Tour

“How did Manchester get so bloody queer?!”

Welcome to the LGBT+ Manchester Walking Tour, the queer history and culture walk through Manchester’s world-famous Gay Village and Canal Street.

The LGBT+ tour is led by queer historian Joshua Val Martin. Josh is a Mancunian, a History MA graduate, and the founder of ‘Free Manchester Walking Tours’. Josh works professionally with LGBTQ+ oral histories, as co-director of Queer Arts & History company IAP:MCR.

Josh’s Queer walking tour of Manchester mixes stories, gossip, politics and camp - alongside proper, well-researched LGBT+ history.

You’ll hear about: underground Victorian drag balls, ‘secret’ gay languages, HIV activism, 19th Century trans men, the all-night parties, and all the people who fought (and are still fighting) to make Manchester a louder, prouder and more fabulous place to live.

At the end of each tour, Josh offers his list of insider recommendations tailored especially for LGBTQ+ visitors.

You can find the queer Manchester tour on Instagram: @LGBTtour_MCR

Key information

• WHEN?
  LGBT+ Manchester tours take place once a month, with the day/time changing (check the latest dates here, or email josh@fmwt.co.uk)

• WHERE?
  We meet at the ‘Monument to Vimto’ – look for the giant Vimto bottle.
  Postcode: M1 3BU (a short walk from Piccadilly Station and the Gay Village).

• HOW LONG?
  Around 1.5–2 hours.

• BOOKING?
  Prebooking is essential. The tour is £15 per person, and can be paid in cash/card on the day, or in advance.

• PRIVATE TOURS?
  Yes. For private groups, LGBTQ+ staff networks, universities and conferences, please email josh@fmwt.co.uk with your date, time and group size. Past clients include Eurovision, the People’s History Museum and EuroPride!

  
  
  

Who is this tour for?

This LGBT+ Manchester walking tour is popular with:

• People across the LGBTQ+ spectrum who want to see themselves represented in Manchester’s history.

• Queer people who’d like an option that isn’t only drinking-focused. Whether you’re sober, sober-curious, or just fancy mixing your pints with a bit of politics!

• Queer women, trans, non-binary and others who don’t feel like the Village or Scene is for them.

• Allies, partners and mixed groups who want to show up for LGBT+ friends and loved ones.

• History and culture nerds who get excited about archives, oral histories, plaques and how gays helped to shape Manchester!

• LGBTQ+ staff networks and companies, who may be looking for something more meaningful than a rainbow lanyard over LGBT+ history month and Manchester Pride.

• LGBT+ friends, couples, logical families and solo travelers to Manchester who’d like to have a laugh, learn something new, and meet like minded people!

Get in touch if you’d like a Queer history/culture talk or tour over ‘LGBT+ History Month’, or Manchester Pride.

Follow the LGBT+ Manchester tour on instagram: @LGBTtour_MCR