Article from the Manchester Mill on line newspaper. This is a huge event in the city every year. I used to run a Charity and find the lack of financial acumen and responsibility bizarre for an organisation of this size.
Exclusive: Manchester Pride is on the brink of collapse
The Mill understands that the organisation is about to go into administration
By The Mill • 16 Oct 2025
View in browser
Photo: Manchester Pride website.
Manchester Pride is preparing to enter administration, The Mill has learned. Two people with direct knowledge of the situation have told us that Manchester Pride Ltd, the organisation that runs the event, has run out of money and can no longer pay its bills.
We have not heard back from Manchester Pride or their PR firm, despite two attempts to get their response. Manchester City Council did not confirm or deny our story, and referred us to Pride.
Yesterday morning, a number of artists and performers wrote a letter complaining about not being paid for their performances in this year’s Pride, which took place in August. They said they had received “automated replies, contradictions, and shifting expectations” and that Manchester Pride had missed its 30-day payment terms.
The letter, which has been shared with The Mill, went on: “This isn’t just an administrative failure – it’s a breach of trust and legality.” Artists are said to have been left struggling to pay their rent and bills.
The Mill understands that Manchester Pride has been seeking other sources of funding in recent months but has been unable to find enough capital to carry on. It is expected to enter administration – the official process for an insolvent company – in the coming days.
The last published accounts for Manchester Pride Ltd only go up to the end of 2023, but they show that it was already in trouble. Despite generating £2.7m in revenue, it lost £467,000 that year, almost as much as it lost in 2020, the worst year of the pandemic. That left the organisation with a negative cashflow of £356,000, the worst cash position its had in the past decade.
It’s unclear how Pride has performed financially since then, because the accounts covering 2024 won’t be due until December, but a note in the 2023 accounts suggests that the board were worried about the financial health of the organisation, and that they made “appropriate enquiries” about whether Manchester Pride Ltd was still a going concern.
Manchester Pride Ltd is, like most significant charities, both a registered company and a registered charity, and it has been criticised in the past for veering away from its campaigning mission and becoming overly commercial. It also operates a non-profit events company called Manchester Pride Events, which is a subsidiary of the main entity.
Pride is one of the largest events in the city – regularly attracting more than 100,000 visitors – and its collapse is likely to have major implications, including questions about how Manchester will put on a Pride event next year.