Queer Unity Hub

📍 Join us at Manchester Museum in the Top Floor Classroom at 2pm on Saturday 28th February. Open to all members of Manchester's LGBTQ+ Community and allies.

📣 Now more than ever we need to hear what you want, what you need, and what you think. We're holding another Stakeholder meeting to discuss the future of Queer Unity Hub, hear your views, and make sure that our community has a home that meets its needs.

We received an acknowledgement to that email but we haven't yet had a response.

For transparency, we are now sharing that email here. Since reading text from an image is either difficult or impossible for some people, so you can find a link to a plain text version of the email in our linktree.

Two weeks ago, The Proud Trust asked us to stop operating, pending an investigation into some items which were found in the space. One item (a sharps bin in the toilets) was placed there by us. The other items were not. A week ago, we sent them an email, asking for a response by today.

Oh, friends. This isn't the post we wanted to bring you today. We were very much hoping that we'd be able to tell you that we would be back to normal operations tomorrow, but unfortunately that won't be happening.

We will let you know as soon as we have any updates, but in the meantime, if you need support (however small), please drop us a line on queerunityhub@gmail.com and we'll see what we can do to help.

Text reads: We miss you! The Queer Unity Hub logo is a cup of tea, decorated with the progress pride flag. This image has a blue background, with had-drawn hearts and stars.

We are still working behind the scenes with The Proud Trust, with the aim of getting Queer Unity Hub back open as soon as we possibly can.

However, we unfortunately will not be operating on Sunday 7th February.

In the meantime, please do contact us by email on queerunityhub@gmail.com if you need any support during our temporary closure.

We're hopeful that we'll have some positive news for you soon.

We know how disappointing this is for all of our visitors, volunteers and supporters, but we just want to let you know that we as a team are doing everything we can to ensure the future of Queer Unity Hub.

Text reads: We'll be back as soon as we can! The Queer Unity Hub logo is a cup of tea, decorated with the progress pride flag. Graphic is a yellow background with stripes, similar to a hi-vis vest.

This is just a quick post to let you all know that we've not yet been given permission to reopen.

We contacted The Proud Trust yesterday, to let them know why we believe Queer Unity Hub is so important, and suggest some small steps that we could all take towards getting us back up and running.

Our team of volunteers remain committed to the QUH project, because we know how much it is needed, and how big of a difference it has already made to people’s lives in less than two months. We will continue to be transparent with you throughout this process.

We have requested an urgent meeting with the management and trustees of The Proud Trust to discuss how to move forward, and address ongoing issues of hostility towards our organisation and volunteers.

2) Some medication was found in a storage space of the community lounge. It is unknown who left this, but The Proud Trust’s management has stated (without evidence, and in spite of the fact that QUH are not the most recent users of the space) that “in all probability that this QUH related activity”.

infection control protocol by our core team, for the safety of all building users. The Proud Trust have objected to us providing a sharps bin.

1) On opening in December, we placed a sharps bin in the toilets in order to provide safe disposal of medical supplies for our community, as is common in the majority of community centres. It is important to note that the bin was being managed professionally and in line with...

As we agreed at our stakeholder meeting recently, one of our key principles is transparency, and therefore we believe it is right that we share the reasons we have been given. These are as follows:

We're open! Queer Unity Hub logo - a cup of tea, decorated with the progress pride flag. Free hot food & community connection - an arrow points to a photo of a bowl of food. Every Wednesday & Saturday 11am-7pm Sidney Street LGBT Centre 49-51 Sidney Street, M1 7HB

We're back to our regular hours from this week. Come down, hang out and get some delicious and wholesome hot food!

We've got comfy chairs, free-flowing tea and coffee, board games and wifi. Everything you need to make yourself feel at home! We can't wait to see you.

Our first month! Here's everything that happened (and everything we spent) in December... Arrow icon points to the right. Photo shows a group of people smiling and playing cards at Christmas.

200 free meals served to our community. 1000+ hours of work from our volunteers. 150 kilos of food received, cooked and served. 14 days of operation. Photos show two people smiling, with thumbs up. One is holding a cabbage.

Christmas! Photo shows trays full of food, like roast vegetables. 60 people joined us for our big free Christmas dinner. 20 different dishes served. £814 raised in our community fundraiser. 14 hours for the fundraiser to reach its target.

£1041 total income, all from donations. £941.17 spent in December. £375.69 spent on food. £500 on rent, paid to The Proud Trust. £65.48 on kitchen supplies. Photo shows a table full of food including tinned food and vegetables, many with yellow discount stickers.

Here's some of the headline numbers from our first month of operations!

We've sent out a stakeholder report this week, sharing some updates from the hub, so we thought we'd share some of the highlights here too. If you want to read the full report, just click the link in our bio.

Have your say! Stakeholder meeting 18th January 2pm-5pm Queer Unity Hub logo features a cup of tea, decorated with the progress pride flag. This graphic has a blue background and includes illustrated images of a megaphone and a microphone. Arrow points to next slide.

Contribute to our charter. Give us your feedback on the pilot so far. Help us plan for the future. Delicious hot food! Sidney Street LGBT Centre, 49-51 Sidney Street, M1 7HB (behind The 8th Day). Graphic is on a blue background and has illustrations on a shouting mouth and speech bubbles.

EVERYONE WELCOME!
If you're interested in what we're doing here at Queer Unity Hub & you want to help us grow & thrive, we'd love to see you at our community stakeholder event.
You can expect group discussions, round-table chats and (very importantly) some really delicious and wholesome hot food!

We'll be right back! We're close this week. Our volunteers are taking a well-earned rest after working through Christmas and New Year! The hub will be open again from Wednesday 13th Jan. See you soon! This graphic is on a yellow background with a crumpled paper texture and cut-out paper elements for decoration. The Queer Unity Hub logo is a cup of tea decorated with the progress pride flag.

BACK SOON! Queer Unity Hub is taking a week off.

We'll be back to our usual opening hours (Weds & Sat, 11am-7pm) from next week!

Sponsor a plate! Support us on Patreon to help us provide delicious and wholesome hot food every single week! Click the link in our bio. The graphic is on a pink background and includes a hand-drawn illustration of a plate. The Queer Unity Hub logo is a cup of tea, decorated with the progress pride flag.

FREE HOT FOOD is what we're all about!

If you want to help us keep serving up delicious and wholesome plates to Manchester's queer community every week, check out our new Patreon. Please do share this with your friends who might be looking for a new good cause to support in the new year ❤️

Text reads: Happy new queer! From all of us at Queer Unity Hub. The image has a yellow background, with bright fireworks. The Queer Unity Hub logo is a cup of tea, decorated with the progress pride flag.

Sending you all love, strength and solidarity for 2026!

We'll be open again on Saturday 3rd January, and then we're gonna be taking a little break to rest and recuperate, ready to face the next year and all it brings.

We're open again for our community & stakeholder meeting on Sunday 11th Jan!

Photo in a polaroid style frame on a pink background. Two people are picking presents from under a Christmas tree. Text reads: Christmas all wrapped up! An arrow points to the next slide.

Four photos on a pink background. In the photos are people cooking in a kitchen wearing santa hats, people setting the table for Christmas and people hugging. An arrow points to the next slide.

Four photos on a pink background. Two photos show boxes full of vegetables. One photo shows people unwrapping presents. The other shows a Christmas tree with lots of presents underneath.

Thank you to everyone who came down for our big queer festive feast, and to all of you who donated to our fundraiser - we couldn't do it without you!

If you still want to donate, you absolutely can - the crowdfunder is still open. Any extra money will help us make the day even better, and fund future events. If you want to donate something physical (like Christmas cards or cosy socks), keep an eye out for our festive gift drive.

A massive thank you! The fundraiser for our free Christmas Day dinner has smashed its target thanks to all of you brilliant people! Big thanks as well to the folks at FareShare and Unicorn Grocery for donating some tasty supplies. Tickets still available! Want to join us for a delicious Christmas dinner? Book your free place - we’d love to see you there! Text is on a pink background, with line drawings of gingerbread folks. The Queer Unity Hub logo is a cup of tea, decorated with the progress pride flag.

You did it! Manchester queers - we love you!

Our Christmas Dinner is now fully funded, meaning we're going to be able to welcome 50 people at Queer Unity Hub on Christmas Day for a delicious dinner. And don't worry - we got plenty of sprouts from Unicorn!

p.s. There are still tickets available for Christmas day! Just register yourself via the link in our bio so we know to expect you, and can make sure your dietary needs are catered to.

You'll find the link to our fundraiser in our linktree and every single penny will help. Don't worry if you can't spare any cash right now, though - just telling your friends about the event and the fundraiser massively helps us to reach our target too!

But everything we're doing here at Queer Unity Hub is truly only possible with the support of all you folks. Our community café is completely volunteer-run, and donations from folks like you mean we can keep serving delicious, wholesome and FREE food every week.

We're serving up a delicious Christmas dinner to fifty people – including some folks who don't feel safe going home to family for Christmas this year, who might be facing Christmas alone, or may not be able to afford a big dinner.

Image description: Text reads: Donate to support our big queer festive feast. Help us raise £500 to feed 50 people on Christmas day! How you can help: Click the link in our bio to donate Share this post with your friends Volunteer at Queer Unity Hub The graphic features white text on a green background, with white line drawings of Christmas lights and a Christmas tree. In the bottom-right corner is the logo for Queer Unity Hub, which is a teacup painted with the pride progress flag.

CHRISTMAS ANGELS NEEDED!

Can you help us raise £500 to fund our big queer festive feast on Christmas day?

[ID] Donate to support our big queer festive feast. Help us raise £500 to feed 50 people on Christmas day!