True Pride is a new queer-only festival launching in Manchester in August

A new queer-only festival is launching in Manchester this August and everyone involved is queer

True Pride is a one-day festival at Hidden on 1 August 2026. Every organiser, every artist, every food vendor. Created by Jamie Irrepressible as a direct response to what mainstream Pride has become.

True Pride launches in Manchester on Saturday 1 August 2026 at Hidden, Downtex Mill, Mary Street. Founded and curated by Jamie Irrepressible alongside DJ Boli Bubbles, DJ Sandra D, Liam Walsh and Sally McFerran, the festival was created from a single idea: that Pride should belong to queer people. Not as a statement. As a practical decision. Everyone involved from the organisers to the performers to the food vendors is queer.

The programming reflects that. There is a live music stage, an acoustic room, an electronica basement, an outdoor stage called Groove is in the Joy, an arthouse queer film room and an Arts Lounge featuring talks, queer interviews, a live strings quartet and wellness offerings. From midnight to 2am, queer DJs play exclusively queer music across all three floors.

The first wave of confirmed artists includes The Irrepressibles, The Hidden Cameras, DJ Bollibubbles, Leo Chadburn, DJ Sandra D, Kerry Leigh, Ollie Becker, Run Remedy, Alabaster Queen and Jamie Irrepressible on DJ duties. More names are still to be announced.

Irrepressible described the festival as being about building something celebratory, representative and genuinely exciting, a platform for both emerging voices and established artists across the community.

True Pride is on Saturday 1 August 2026 at Hidden, Downtex Mill, 16 to 18 Mary Street, Manchester M3 1NH.

Tickets at dice.fm.