G-A-Y Manchester

Ok £1.5 for a pint of Sam Miguel from Sunday till Friday is wow. Place need little update but with that price for a drinks please not expect Holton standards lol. This place is very busy. For me full recommend Enjoy your cheep drinks include Jug of cocktail for only £5.

£2 for a San Miguel, what could be wrong with that? Horror horror horror! This place began as Spirit, the purpose built new bar in a reinvented gay scene in the late’90s. Cutting edge build with roof terrace, great food and service. It was a sign of the times. Sadly the time it’s a sign of now is bored indifference — a tragic feature of the once fashionable ‘west end’ of Canal Street. The glory days are over. It looks like a toilet, smells like a toilet yet gives no sense of relief! Doubtless its 3 floors still serve well as an undiscriminating dance space when late in the evening, but apart from cheap beer, it’s only redeeming feature in daylight, it’s a slum. Top tip — worth it if you’re as broke as it is.

Cheap drinks and good music are all that gets this venue 3 stars. Sunday to Thursday any drink £1.50, Friday £2, Saturday £££expensive. It’s starting to look quite scruffy around the edges and could do with a bit of a refurb. The toilets can be quite disgusting and are completely inadequate. The outside seating area is filthy, full of dog-​ends, it’s like sitting in an ashtray. The whole area needs a good jet washing. If the drinks weren’t so cheap and the music do good, the place would only be 1 star.

A clean and funky bar. Plays great pop/​chart music with associated videos in the screens. An outside terrace where the smokers hang out mainly but a great vantage point in the summer months.
Sunday-​Thurs prices for specials £1.50 and Friday is £2.00… So some great bargains to be had.
The crowd is mainly young which can make you feel old or even invisible when at the bar, if you catch my drift!

The only redeeming feature about this place is the cheap drinks. Of course, if you like screaming queens and rowdy lesbians then this place will probably be the place for you. Even more of a pull is if you like the guy trying to foister perfumes and the like on you when you go the toilet. The same guy you find on Grindr looking for bb sex. How p. c is that in this day and age? In a bar that supposedly promotes safe sex.

Average bar on Canal Street. The only other GAY outside of London. Cheap booze and good music! What more can the gays ask for? If you are ever in Manchester, make sure you pop down to GAY! :)

A popular gay bar for all ages, however mainly a younger crowd.
Great bar prices always with a good selection of lagers and bottled drinks.

G.A.Y. Is a good bar to start the Night off Sunday to Thursday £1.50 a drink, Friday £2 a drink and on Saturday its normal prices. The music is always good with pop videos always playing. They have a private terrace for smokers or just to get an elevated view of the area. So if you just want a cheap night out in the middle of the week is the perfect place to get lots of cheap drinks. Clientelle does tend to be a younger crowd.

This venue is definitely one of the best on Canal street. Cheap drinks and spacious place, although it’s generally a jukebox playing so you can get some quiet moments, it’s very good music though. Popular place and after a good frisk before being allowed in, there’s plenty of choice from the bar!

G-​A-​Y is a London based bar, nightclub with the owner Jeremy Joseph deciding to pursue his adventure in a Bar on Canal Street, not a huge fan of Canal Street by the way, but its a fun bar to be at which has multiple levels with a bar on each floor, with the busiest on the first floor, they play most recent pop videos on video screens scattered around the place. They also have a roof terrace but its mainly used for smokers. Its a kind of place for younger gay guys but its very friendly every time we have been in, they do seem to have a strict door policy some nights though with locals only but we have never encountered a problem.
Drink prices are very cheap, on sundays to thursdays all drinks are £1.50 and fridays £2 and saturdays around £3 and upwards, all drinks seem to be ok and are all served in plastic glasses.
They only serve drinks and don’t expect anything fancy but its a good night if you decide to have one or a few in this pretty fun bar!

I really hope this site is used by management at GAY.
Firstly as mentioned by other reviewers the door staff. I usually stick to rem or the Eagle so I’m not a regular at GAY although I have been on a few times. I was refused entry until I showed my Canal street card, stonewall membership and eagle card he allowed me in after a pat down.
The bar staff are attentive, and at £1.50 a drink I can see why it’s busy.
The toilets are in humane, every urinal has a bucket underneath as they are so badly plumbed. No working hand dryer or tissues to dry your hands.
The music is good, lighting nothing special.
Give it a miss. View is more welcoming.

Big fan

I promised I wouldn’t compare this one to the London one but I have much reason to! Well, in short, this one is better than the London one, so there! Tuff, I have a favorite. This venue is very spacious, kind of like a labyrinth with little goblins lurking around every corner! Its colourful, its cheesy, its dirt cheap and you’ll definitely love it! Outside terrace/​smoking area! Music is loud! Location is brill, right at the top of canal street! Wide-​screen flat-​screen TVs built in, purple sofas, nice dance areas, only thing I would complain about is the lack of toilet space/​facilities. Three cubilces for men and three cubicles for women in that venue is architectural stupidity (to put in bluntly).
Great place to go before you hit your favourite club or a fab place to go at the end of a pub crawl!

Located in a safe somewhat quiet area that can be accessed via Princess Street (a total coincident I am sure). Somehow it’s like Kyoto Japan by a canal like with a good number of bars.

If the bouncers at G-​A-​Y were characters in a Harry Potter book, they would be Crabbe and Goyle. Maybe even Malfoy, depending on their mood. Basically, they’d be in Slytherin, for sure. They are just the kind of people who like to monopolise and maximise the small bit of power that they actually have. Don’t even bother trying to flash them a smile, you won’t get anything above a grimace in return. Those who know me know that I am a polite person, who likes to hold by the old saying ‘manners don’t cost a thing’ so I am completely perplexed as to what I can have done to make these doormen so irate towards me on several occasions. I know I am not the only victim of this!
G-A-Y’s doormen have also been called into question a few times on acts of reverse discrimination. That is to say, if you don’t look gay enough, you’re not getting in, the phrase ‘regulars only’ has been bought up too often. Not only is the basic principle of this unacceptable (do you think normal clubs get away with denying entry to homosexuals?) but it’s totally unfounded as it assumes that sexual identity can be recognized purely on appearance which, of course, is ridiculous.
If, you do make it inside, be prepared for pop music galore, accompanied by their music videos flashing at you from numerous television screens on the walls. It’s all a bit cheesey, and just a little bit tacky. I’m not a fan. When I’m in G-​A-​Y I prefer to avoid all this by escaping to the smoking area on the top floor, even though I don’t smoke. Oh, and there are definitely not enough toilets for such a big place with a large capacity.
So…after all my moaning, what are the redeeming features? In two words: drinks deals. Super cheap offers on drinks (and that it opens until 4am every night) mean that this place can always pull in a large crowd of customers, no matter how awful it is. On one night of the week, Monday I think, any spirit + mixer or certain alco-​pops and beers are only £1, it’s very dificult to argue with that when there are hundreds of thirsty, empty-​pocketed students swarming around. It has become the destination of choice for ‘pre-drinks’…much to my disappointment!

So, G-​A-​Y has finally made it to Manchester. The famous London clubbing and late night drinking institution has graced us with a northern presence. Some may think this is a good thing, others may disagree. Personally I am not sure about it. GAY use to be good 10 years ago, but not much seems to have happened with the brand other than its transferal from their own club venue in London (The Astoria, which is no-​more) to a residency at Heaven.
The venue itself takes over from Spirit which was part of the Cougar Leisure group that went into administration last year. I am certainly glad that the site has been taken over and refurbished. It was in need of a face lift in my opinion. What has come of it all is a pleasant refresh to a bar which was always fun to be in. One of the things which is great about the venue is the open top roof terrace. This is perfect for smokers and is even heated in winter. Spirit used to hold BBQ on the terrace from time to time, so let’s hope G-​A-​Y continues this trend.
The drinks are reasonably priced (£3.50 a pint), the music is pop (as you would expect from this brand) and the clientele is generally under 35. The venue is gay but anyone can go. Worth a visit, even if just to satisfy your curiosity next time you are in the area.