They say that as fast things change, they stay the same.
That description could be applied to one Village pub — being a steadfast pillar and meeting place for the LGBTQ+ community for decades — as a whole area of the city centre around it was regenerated, reinvigorated, and rediscovered.
However, to say that The Rembrandt pub has been stationary while the Village has become what it is today around it, would be to completely disregard the enormity of progress within its four walls. The story of the pub — where they say Manchester’s first August bank holiday pride event took place — is something of a parable to how the city, and its LGBTQ+ scene, has evolved.
“That’s the bring-and-buy sale they had, in 1987,” owner Allan Whyte told the Manchester Evening News . He was referring to one of the many photographs which adorns his pub’s walls — which he has worked in since 1996.
In the photo, people are milling about by some trestle tables, which are full of items for sale. That was a fundraiser for victims of the HIV/AIDS crisis of the 1980s, and he says, is the genesis for the behemoth that Manchester Pride is now.
“That would have been when Anderton was the Chief Constable [of Greater Manchester Police], who said we were swirling around in a cesspit of our own making. At the time, The Rembrandt would have been at the centre of all that.
“Traditionally, we were a man’s bar, and all the clientele were young men, so their friends and partners were dropping in to Monsall Infectious Diseases Unit at the time. There wasn’t really any help for them.”
The idea to have the fundraiser came from the then-landlord, Peter Beswick, who used the money raised to buy TVs and individual fridges so patients in Monsall Hospital’s ‘isolation unit’ could have some more comfortable conditions. The next year, another fundraiser was held in conjunction with other bars Peter owned in the area.
The nub of this idea, he says, became the Village Charity, which launched Mardi Gras — as it was then called — in the late 80s. Today, we call that event Manchester Pride.
As can be expected, Pride has changed a lot over the years — but for some, it’s changed too much. This year, bosses said they were returning the event to its roots, something Allan welcomes.
“I don’t think it should be a protest,” Allan, 56, continued. “It’s to say, ‘we’re here’. The last few years have been difficult and they’ve tried this year to bring back into the Village, which they’ve done and that seems to have gone well. We’ve not really had many problems, as far as this year’s Pride event has gone.”
“I’d agree,” Allan’s husband, Toby Adamson, who also runs the Rembrandt, added. “In previous years they tried to expand it and took a lot of it out of the Village. They’ve brought it back in again and I think a lot of people are happier with that focus back on the Village.”
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Throughout the changes, though, The Rembrandt has been there for the community. Allan, who’s Scottish, prides himself on the fact that the pub has a community feeling. Such is the strength of that feeling, he says the same faces have been coming in daily — from as far back as 1960.
Those regulars are celebrated, too. Ryan, as he’s known, has his photo on the wall. He’s 81, Allan says, and has seen how the pub has changed over the years, too.
Allan explained: “When Peter [Beswick] left [in 1999], a tenant took it over and he really didn’t understand the place. We lost all our regulars. The next tenant managed to get them back, by getting the pub back to where it had been before.
“I’ve been a tenant for four years. We’re a community pub, we have a lot of regulars, what they like is the fact that it’s a historical pub in the Village. The Rembrandt has been here since the 1800s.
“The area back then, the Rochdale Canal, it was the M1 of its day. There’d have been mills and storage for the mills — the pub would have been the mill workers’. During the decline of industry, it was a rundown area only visited by prostitutes.
“Then, it was gay men. The first tenant that took this place on who was gay was back in the 60s.”
In the intervening 60-or-so-years, the pub has been a refuge, point of celebration, and meeting place for the LGBTQ+ community. Now, The Rembrandt is back to its best, claiming the JW Lees regional pub of the year award in 2022 — so it looks like the Village’s historic beating heart will be here to stay.
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