A history of Liverpool's Pride Quarter

How Liverpool's LGBTQ+ scene grew into the Pride Quarter, told through dated, sourced milestones.

Timeline

1. Victorian eraLiverpool's gay community can be traced back to this period.
2. 1940sAn unofficial gay quarter grows up around Queen Square, nicknamed the 'Covent Garden of the North'.
3. Early 1970sThe Homophile Society forms at the University of Liverpool.
4. 1972Paco's opens and the community begins to settle around Stanley Street.
5. 1979The first recorded Liverpool Gay Pride festival.
6. 2009The quarter is pedestrianised with timed street closures.
7. 2010The city's first official Pride festival draws more than 21,000 people.
8. 2011The council officially recognises the gay quarter (12 August) and puts up the UK's first rainbow street signs (11 November).
9. 2016Eberle Street is redesigned with a Wizard of Oz theme.
10. 2019 to 2020Victoria Street is redesigned with wider pavements and space for street cafes.
11. 2021The area is rebranded as the Pride Quarter, and an indoor festival across the quarter's venues marks what would have been Pride weekend.
12. 2024A rainbow taxi rank for the quarter is announced to boost night-time safety.
13. 2026Concern about closures, including the late club Garlands, prompts the council leader to pledge support for the quarter in June; Liverpool's Pride weekend on 24 and 25 July is one of its biggest.

Venues we remember

These are reported as closed. Know different? Contact the team.

• Garlands: Liverpool's first late-night gay club. Reported closed by June 2026, within a year of new investment
• The Stork: One of the city's original gay bars. Demolished in 1975
• Paco's: The bar that opened in 1972 as the community began settling around Stanley Street. No longer trading

Sources

• en.wikipedia.org
• thepinknews.com
• taxi-point.co.uk
• attitude.co.uk

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