Manchester

LGBTory, the Conservative LGBT campaign group, today condemned the Poptastic club for being anti-Conservative in their decision to host a special event at the Alter Ego club on Manchester’s Princess Street in the world-famous gay village. 

The night, called Tory Shame, is designed to highlight the shame of the Tories historical intolerance to the lesbian & gay community, including the infamous Section 28.

The club night is taking place during the Conservative Party’s conference in Manchester next week and is set to coincide with the official ‘Conference Pride’ event being organised by the Tories which will be held at Spirit bar on Canal Street next Tuesday evening.  

The official Conservative event will be hosted by high-profile LGBT Conservatives Iain Dale, political blogger and shortlisted Parliamentary candidate for the safe Conservative seat of Bracknell and openly-Lesbian Vice Chair of the Party Margot James.  It will include a live performance by singer Angie Brown and addresses by senior shadow cabinet members, Nick Herbert and Theresa May, as well as Stonewall’s Ben Summerskill. 

Read more: Battle of the Gay Tory Conference Events

Google is in a pickle over one of Manchester's most famous landmarks.

Instead of the famous canal-sided gay mecca lined with trendy bars and nightspots, a picture of an unremarkable back street appears. The all-knowing internet company has wrongly identified Canal Street on the Street View area of its map service.

A search for Canal Street actually shows Richmond Street, a nearby narrow road with no bars or clubs.

Local traders said they couldn't understand how Google could get mixed up about a street which is famous across the country as the heart of Manchester's Gay Village.

Pat Karney, City centre spokesman, is writing to Google to ask them to sort it out. Phil Burke, chair of the Village Business Association, added, "We have worked hard to turn Canal Street into a cosmopolitan area. As a result, thousands of people flock to the area throughout the year. For something like this to be posted by Google is a travesty. We want people to be able to see what Canal Street is really like."

A spokeswoman for Google said it could be there was no street view of Canal Street because it is pedestrianised, which meant the Google video cars could not get access. She added the problem could be solved by sending the Google tricycle out, and promised to look into the issue. 

So look out for the Google tricycle on Canal Street and be sure to give it a wave as it goes by.