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.
In response to our story, Manchester Pride sent a statement signed by the board of trustees. "Manchester Pride is currently in the process of determining the best way forward with our legal and financial advisers," the statement reads. "The aim is to provide additional communications by Wednesday 22nd October. We will provide further information to our communities and stakeholders as well. They deserve this."
[See the rest of the statement at the end of this story, where we have further updates about the artists who haven't been paid and Pride's CEO Mark Fletcher. Please get in touch if you can help our reporting, or DM us on Instagram.]
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. Two well placed sources have told us that it is expected to enter administration – the official process for an insolvent company.
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 negative funds of £356,000, the worst cash position it's 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.
We will update this story below as it develops, and will bring you an in-depth piece about what happened inside Pride very soon. Please get in touch if you can help our reporting, or DM us on Instagram.
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Live updates
Update, 5.38pm: The Mill has been told by two well placed sources that Manchester Pride's chief executive Mark Fletcher offered to resign from his post this week. We're trying to establish whether he is still CEO, but the organisation's board have not responded to our question about that, which we sent two hours ago.
It's notable that the statement issued by Manchester Pride in response to our reporting earlier today was signed by the board of trustees rather than Fletcher.
In an interview with I Love Manchester in August, Fletcher hinted at financial issues: "Pride organisations across the country are fighting to survive. Sponsorship is shrinking. DEI initiatives are being stripped back. Public funding is drying up. And we’re not immune."
Update, 5pm: There are dozens of angry comments under Manchester Pride's Instagram post. The post contains the statement they sent us earlier (read the full statement below in these updates).
"You need to commit to an open dialogue with the community. And that dialogue NEEDS to include a commitment and a timeframe for payments," one user has commented. "This is an absolute shambles and confirms the fears many have," says another. "It’s time we took back control of our pride!!!"
We are working to establish what will happen to artists and performers who have not been paid. Please get in touch if you know anything that could help our reporting.
Update, 3.29pm: The BBC is now reporting on artists not being paid by Pride.
"Several acts and businesses have told BBC Newsbeat they've been met with silence when chasing payment for their work," the story says. "Saki Yew, who was on RuPaul's Drag Race UK in 2024, is among those who say they're yet to be paid."
Saki Yew tells the BBC: "A lot of performers are starting to give up hope of being paid."
Newsbeat also quotes Chris O'Connor, a sole trader who worked backstage at this year's Pride, who is taking the organisation to small claims court to try to recover £2050 he's owed.
Update, 3.17pm: The trade union Equity says that it has heard from multiple performers who haven't been paid by Manchester Pride.
It says it has written to Manchester Pride "following several drag artists and performers raising concerns that they still haven’t been paid, with some reporting unprocessed payments as far back as June 2025".
“Equity has received several queries from performers involved with working at Manchester Pride 2025 who are experiencing payment delays and have concerns that they will be left out of pocket after working the event in August”, says Karen Lockney, Equity North West official. “We encourage other performers to contact us directly so that we can offer advice and support.”
Update, 2.35pm: Just after we published this story, we received the following statement from Pride's board of trustees. It says:
We recognise that there has been a period of silence from us, whilst we have taken legal and financial advice. We understand the frustration this has caused and the impact this has. Our intention is to ensure that we speak with honesty, clarity, and care as we move forward.
Manchester Pride is currently in the process of determining the best way forward with our legal and financial advisers. The aim is to provide additional communications by Wednesday 22nd October. We will provide further information to our communities and stakeholders as well. They deserve this.
We know that moments like this can raise questions and emotions. We want to ensure that our staff, interns, artists, contractors and suppliers, who are all a part of our community, are heard and considered. The wellbeing and safety of our staff, who are all a part of the wider community is our highest priority. We ask that people treat our staff, from the CEO to the interns and volunteers, with kindness and respect. They have worked hard to deliver pride for decades and we are proud of them. It is the board that takes responsibility for our decisions based on advice and guidance, and not our staff.
As part of this process, we will be reaching out to key stakeholders, partners, and media contacts in due course. Until then, we are pausing further public comment while we focus on clear and careful communication.
Thank you to everyone who shows solidarity during this time.
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Please get in touch if you can help our reporting.
Sophie Atkinson
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