The beech road festival took place on July 3rd 2011. It turned out to be one of the hottest, and consistently sunny, days Manchester had experienced up to that point in 2011. The combination of sunshine and numerous attractions, led to a mass influx of people from across Greater Manchester.

Drinking

People expecting to sit on the village green were disappointed as the green was given over to stalls selling pseudo-hippy regalia and cakes. Drinkers at the village green end of beech road congregated in the old cemetery next to the bowling green pub. The police were comfortable with drinking in that area - as they were with street drinking in the beech road area in general.
Cocktails and other drinks were being served in front of the various bars and cafes that dominate beech road, but the crowds of people meant that waiting times were long and the resulting queues only added to the congestion.
For beer connoisseurs and alcoholics alike, there was Carringtons off license at the Barlow Moor road end of beech road. Unfortunately,half way through the day the staff decided that they wanted to join the party and closed the shop!

Driving

Many not-so-clever motorists had decided to drive down beech road to look for a parking space. There were none. It took motorists half an hour to beep their way through the crowds and emerge on the other side of beech road to drive off and search for a parking space elsewhere. The crowds offered little sympathy.

Toilets

For people cursed with a polite streak, much of the day would have been spent queuing for the toilets. For the rest there were bushes, trees, walls and alleyways - much to the chagrin of the locals.

Entertainment

Beech road park contained the highest mass of people due to the live music, more stalls, rides for the kids, and porta-loos. The bands that played gave the park a truly festival atmosphere, though they only provided background music as the crowd chilled-out and did its own thing.