There is a location in Manchester that I have been aware of all my life. I grew up gay in the suburbs around here and my first experiences with LGBTQ culture as a gay young man were, of course, in and around Canal Street. I don’t know if you’ve ever wandered the canals of Manchester. As of right now in September 2025, most of them are holding a distinct lack of water and a less than welcoming vibe. Especially one spot in particular, which has always had a reputation as a cruising spot for gay men to meet up and have sex – that dates back to when homosexuality in this country was still illegal and we had literally no other choice. Recently, a bizarre corner of TikTok has developed a fascination with what they’ve dubbed ‘cottagers cove’ in Manchester. Under the guise of curiosity or doing the right thing, it’s become a space for people to mock and laugh and “expose” gay men in Manchester. It needs to stop.
Sorry, what actually is all this?
Via YouTube
Okay – I’ll give you the beginner’s guide. Manchester has a big gay scene and has done for years, and for years before Canal Street was established as the relative haven and tourist destination for queer people that it is today. People needed places to meet up and have sex – which is of course, illegal in public. This spot is tucked away and in a dark space just at the top end of Piccadilly, and goes under the city and is very dark and low lit. Cruising and cottaging refer to public sex.
Now dubbed ‘cottagers cove’, the space is locked between the hours of 10pm and 7am but when it’s open remains a public walkway. It doesn’t get much foot traffic, because of what is known to happen there but also because it doesn’t smell great, it’s covered in graffiti and it’s just generally not somewhere you feel super safe on your own. But this place is a huge part of LGBTQ+ history – and today the acts that happen there exist in a grey area of the law.
Via YouTube
The public sex is illegal, but the act of sex in public is only able to be actioned by the police under the law if the officers catch you physically in the act. The police generally have better things to do than hang around there waiting to catch people out. Which is why it’s extra bizarre that “auditors” and others have decided to act like this is all a new thing that must be stopped.
This isn’t an endorsement, but this location they’re calling “cottagers cove” in Manchester has been a cruising hotspot for 70 years.
The latest vigilante TikToks are misguided
TikTok has been swamped with creators who are making the journey into what they’re dubbing the “cottagers cove” in Manchester and none of it seems to be getting done with any nuance or well meaning. It feels like it’s done to shame and to expose – keeping in the face of the men who have gone to this spot with clear intentions, but private intentions. The only content on this area that I feel like has done a decent job in platforming the history of this place in Manchester is Will Bower / WillsWeekends on YouTube – who interviewed people using the area directly.
Via YouTube
One man engaging in cruising responded to the “auditors” on TikTok who are trying hard to get this area properly locked down or to try and expose the men who are there, under the guise of protecting families and not being – say – homophobic in Will’s video. He said “We don’t do it in front of families. If we see families coming down we stop what we’re doing.”
In short, these TikTok users who continue to come down to this location are giving… obsessed. If the police are just letting a location exist in peace. The TikTok videos love stressing that this is a public thoroughfare – but anyone who has been here knows full well this is barely the case.
I went down “cottagers cove” in Manchester for the first time myself this week, out of curiosity with my also-gay friend who said I should walk through it as a rite of passage. I strolled down the public space and saw a grand total of no one – at around 7pm. I walked through a space that I didn’t love to be in, and thought it so bizarre that so many creators have made it their passion to take regular strolls down a place that whilst it is public is clearly out of the way, steeped in history, and shows little sign of giving up its legacy.
As the world feels more and more unsafe for LGBTQ+ people in this country, it’s the tone of these videos and the current fixation on parts of queer history that scares me a lot. The pearl clutching, like having sex outside in public spaces is something gay people invented. Scary times right now.
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Featured image via YouTube.
