In the 1970's when I attended Manchester Central High School For Girls, Canal St, which ran behind the school was really a place to be avoided.

It was a bleak little street with just a couple of seedy pubs which seemed only to be frequented by old men in dirty macs. The buildings were mostly empty warehouses and the canal itself was over run with rats.

Not the kind of place you would recommend for a great night out!

How things have changed!

Gone are the empty warehouses, rats and dirty old men. The power of the “Pink Pound” is alive and well and has transformed the area.

Manchester's gay & lesbian scene has grown into one of the most visible and vibrant in Britain, centred around the concentrated bars and characters of Canal Street. The Gay Village has gone overground and is increasingly becoming abbreviated to "The Village" by a more straight clientele - (of which I am one,) which in turn is sending some parts of the gay scene back underground.

Coach parties, especially groups of women on hen parties, can often be seen unloading their giggling occupants on the outskirts of The Village, especially since the hit TV show “Queer As Folk” was filmed there,as it now has the reputation of being one of the best places in Manchester to have night out.

Even though most Saturday nights the street is thronged with people who just come to take a look, eager for a glance of some leather clad, moustached muscle men holding hands, the glitz and the glam are still out in the Gay Village and great places to go are...

Paradise Factory........

Massive club on four floors, with three bars and three dancefloors. Hedonistic and full of real party animals who play 101% all night long. Open 10am-3pm continuing at Manto Fri & Sat till 8am.

Poptastic @ Mutz Nutz... Twice weekly indie/trash club. Very popular. Very cheap drinks.

Homoele
ctric@ Follies.. Once a month club night, usually first Friday in the month. A brilliant fantastic night that really is quite different. First room looks more like a brothel with velvet curtains surrounding it - fab! The dance area packs 'em in, with a female vocalist singing over some of the dance numbers- absolutely astounding. Very much a night where it's two fingers up to the gay scene, and all the better for it!

Manto..The trendy bar that made Canal Street the place it is today. Two floors of fun and very up to date looks. Host to the Breakfast Club on Saturday and Sunday mornings.

And perhaps my most favourite of all The New Union..Full of drag queens who really know how to party.

I write this opinion as a hetrosexual female who has been married for 17 years but has been a witness to the regeneration of this area,and someone who values deeply the friendship of a number of gay people who I have spent time with on this most wonderful street.