‘I’ve pretty much worked at every bar on Canal Street’: How Danny Beard cut their teeth as a drag queen in Manchester’s Gay Village

On a Tuesday night ten years ago in a misty basement on Bloom Street, the likes of Lady Gaga, Blondie, David Bowie and Steps were all booming out to a packed and sweaty crowd of students, city dwellers and drag queens at club night Poptastic.

At the front of the crowd, leading the charge behind the DJ decks, stood drag performer Danny Beard. When not hurling sarcastic retorts at the crowd in a thick scouse accent midway through a Spice Girls megamix, Danny would be lip-syncing, dancing and posing for photos until 5am each week.

While those days are now long gone - thanks to Danny’s recent win on BBC Three’s RuPaul’s Drag Race UK - they look back on that time as a pinnacle moment for their drag career.