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One of Canal Street’s most long-standing nightclubs is hosting a big birthday bash this weekend featuring 32 DJs, drag artists and performers. First opened on May 22, 1992, Cruz 101 on Princess Street in the city centre arrived at a time when attitudes towards the LGBTQ+ community were still hostile. Just six years beforehand, bars in the Gay Village were being raided by police on a regular basis.

Housed in a former shipping warehouse, the club - alongside the likes of Manto and Flesh at The Haçienda - helped pave the way for the village’s nightlife today and even served as the backdrop for the Babylon nightclub in Channel 4’s Queer As Folk. READ MORE: 25 photos show the fashions we were wearing in Manchester in the '90s This weekend, the club will celebrate its past, present and future with a special 32nd birthday party described as being a ‘flashpoint in LGBTQ+ clubbing history’. To mark the occasion, there will be club nights, cabaret and comedy shows featuring some of the finest talent from Canal Street and beyond.



“It feels like a massive achievement to be celebrating 32 years,” Cruz 101’s promotions manager Nik Denton tells the M.E.N.

“Even more so this year because we are fully aware that the nightlife industry has taken a bit of a hit over the past few years since Covid and some nightclubs have not been able to survive the economic situation here in the UK. Cruz 101's promotions manager Nik Denton also DJs at the famous venue (Image: Cruz 101) “B.

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