It could feature a big free-to-attend stage area at Albert Square
Manchester has submitted a bid as a candidate city for the EuroPride festival(Image: Kenny Brown | Manchester Evening News)
Manchester has submitted a bid to host a huge European festival which could see a huge free stage set up outside Albert Square.
Manchester Pride has put the city forward to host the annual EuroPride event in 2028, which often attracts close to a million visitors each year.
Run by the European Pride Organisers Association (EPOA), EuroPride is hosted each year in a different location. It first took place in 1992 in London, with this year’s event taking place in Lisbon. It will be held in Amsterdam in 2026 and Torino in 2027.
If successful, the bid has proposed that the 2028 event, which will run for ten days from August 18 to 27, would comprise of a series of concerts, club nights, and parades, as well as the SCENE film and TV festival, Family Pride, a LGBTQ+ Sports Forum and a EuroPride village.
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The team behind Manchester Pride have submitted a bid for the city to host EuroPride in 2028(Image: Kenny Brown | Manchester Evening News)
All of the main events as part of EuroPride 2028 would be free to attend, and would be likely to feature a line-up of world-renowned artists and LGBTQ+ talent. Over the years, the festival has featured the likes of Christina Aguilera, Lady Gaga, Boy George and Sir Ian McKellen.
The bid suggests celebrations would begin with an Opening Ceremony in a ‘specially constructed staging area in Albert Square’, which would feature international performers, community speakers and a light show. There would also be health conferences, rally events and vigils lined up throughout the ten days.
Bosses at Manchester Pride have said that hosting EuroPride 2028 in the city would fall on the tenth anniversary of the introduction of the Alan Turing Law, 80 years since the NHS was founded in Greater Manchester and would also mark 25 years since Manchester last hosted the event.
Hailed as ‘Europe’s premiere Pride event’, Manchester hosted the festival back in 2003 – which marked the first first major international event in the city since the 2002 Commonwealth Games – and drew in more than 300,000 visitors. The event also featured an official party with Girls Aloud and Atomic Kitten.
EuroPride 2025 took place in Lisbon, Portugal earlier this year(Image: Corbis via Getty Images)
If Manchester is selected to host the 2028 event, it would take on a Pride Revolution theme – honing in on a response to the rollback of LGBTQ+ rights in the UK and across Europe. The team behind the bid said it would ‘be a platform to push forward another’ and ‘a revolution for unconditional safety, joy, and justice for all LGBTQIA+ people’.
The Manchester bid team is led by Mark Fletcher, CEO of Manchester Pride, and has also had backing support from a range of local and nationwide charities and organisations, including LGBT Foundation and George House Trust.
Cllr Bev Craig, the leader of Manchester City Council, and Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, have both expressed their backing for the bid. In his letter to the EuroPride Board of Directors, the Mayor said he was ‘confident that we can deliver an event that embodies the spirit of EuroPride and leaves a lasting positive impact on LGBTQ+ visitors’.
If successful, Manchester’s bid to host EuroPride 2028 would include a line-up of international and local LGBTQ+ artists and allies(Image: Kenny Brown | Manchester Evening News)
The event has been budgeted at around £3.2m, of which a large portion would come from a local government and nationwide grants as well as from sponsorship opportunities.
West Ireland, representing Limerick and Clare, have also bid to host the 2028 event. Both candidates will present their bids to the EuroPride board at the Annual General Meeting on October 11, with the result of the ballet decided the same day.
Speaking of Manchester’s bid, Mark Fletcher, CEO of Manchester Pride, said: “Manchester has long been a beacon of inclusivity, activism, and celebration for LGBTQIA communities; playing a key role in overturning anti LGBTQIA laws, promoting inclusion within LGBTQIA spaces and boldly championing trans rights. However, the struggle continues.
EuroPride takes place in a different European city each year(Image: Corbis via Getty Images)
“At a time when LGBTQIA rights are being challenged across Europe, there are increasing attacks on LGBTQIA people, delays with essential legislation and rollback of protections here in the UK alongside a rise in hate fuelled rhetoric. Hosting EuroPride 2028 in Manchester will send a clear message: Our communities will not be silenced, erased, or pushed back into the shadows.
“EuroPride 2028 in Manchester would be a bold, unapologetic display of LGBTQIA joy, creativity, and resilience, bringing together people from across the world in solidarity of the Pride movement to protest, party and celebrate.
“It is a crucial time for the progression of LGBTQIA rights here in the UK and we are calling on our neighbours for support. Together we are stronger.”
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