Adam Maidment
Adam Maidment is a senior What’s On and LGBTQ+ reporter for the Manchester Evening News who covers the city’s music, nightlife and cultural scene through the experiences of the people and communities who inhabit it. His work stands out for the way it connects big-name concerts, new venues and cultural flashpoints to everyday fan culture and inclusion, rather than treating them as isolated events. Drawing on a background in community reporting, he consistently looks for underrepresented perspectives in Manchester’s cultural life, with a particular focus on LGBTQ+ audiences and neighbourhoods.
Music, gigs and major live events
Maidment is a regular presence at major live music events, offering on-the-ground coverage that shows what a show feels like as much as what happens on stage. He reported from the BRIT Awards when the ceremony was held in Manchester for the first time, writing a first-hand feature on “what it’s really like” inside Co-op Live and following the night through artist afterparties. He has reviewed Lily Allen’s performance at Aviva Studios, framing the show around how the singer used the set to “reclaim her trauma,” and tying the gig to wider conversations about personal storytelling in pop. He has also handled live recap duties for arena and stadium shows, such as a detailed RECAP of Take That’s return to the Etihad Stadium, tracking the band’s first night back at the venue as it unfolded.
His music coverage is not limited to headline acts; he also picks out distinctive local angles on music heritage and fan devotion. In one feature, he reported on a procession of Manchester bikers – and even a fruit machine – paying tribute to Motörhead frontman Lemmy, turning a niche memorial ride into a story about how rock icons are remembered in the city’s streets and pubs.[anchor_article] He follows tour announcements and scheduling closely, including reporting on Harry Styles fans “manifesting” on social media over rumours of a special Manchester show and the possibility of a Co-op Live appearance. His articles on tour news for artists such as Lady Gaga similarly focus on the impact of extra dates and arena choices on local fans, highlighting how global pop tours intersect with Manchester’s venue landscape.
Venues, nightlife and the Co-op Live story
Beyond individual gigs, Maidment pays sustained attention to the venues and nightlife infrastructure that shape Manchester’s cultural calendar. He covers new restaurant and bar openings alongside food reviews and gig coverage, situating music and nightlife within the broader “What’s On” offering of the city. His reporting on Co-op Live has examined the venue’s ambitions and setbacks, including a piece charting how its “big aspirations” led to it being branded a “total embarrassment” and “disappointment” by some ticket holders after closure and rescheduled shows. In that coverage, he looks at how logistical problems affect fans and artists, and how a flagship venue’s reputation is built or damaged in real time.
Maidment also writes about cultural experiences that sit at the intersection of entertainment, branding and place. He has covered immersive events such as the Batman Unmasked exhibition, describing taking his 14-year-old nephew to the experience and using the visit to show how franchise-driven attractions land with families in Manchester. His feature on the Unknown Pleasures street art in Stockport Town of Culture similarly links visual tributes to iconic music to the regeneration and identity of a local high street. These pieces demonstrate an interest in how venues, exhibitions and street culture collectively create a sense of nightlife and pride in different parts of the city.
LGBTQ+ communities and cultural institutions
Alongside What’s On coverage, Maidment has a defined remit to report on LGBTQ+ stories and issues, and this thread is visible across his work. His role explicitly includes covering LGBTQ+ communities, and he has been described as an LGBTQ+ reporter with a patch that includes areas such as Trafford. In a widely noted article on the People’s History Museum, he reported on the museum issuing an apology after a gender-critical group hosted a boardroom meeting there, turning what could be a brief statement into a fuller account of how cultural institutions navigate conflicts over inclusion and free speech. That piece reflects his tendency to follow how policies and bookings at arts venues and museums affect LGBTQ+ visitors and advocacy groups, rather than treating such stories as purely institutional news.
His music and venue coverage often intersects with LGBTQ+ perspectives even when the primary subject is entertainment. In writing about pop acts, large-scale awards shows and new venues, he pays attention to questions of representation, safety and welcome that matter to LGBTQ+ audiences alongside mainstream fans. This combination of What’s On service journalism with a clear equality beat makes his byline particularly relevant when stories touch both culture and community politics.
Community-focused reporting and sourcing
Maidment’s approach is rooted in earlier work as a community reporter, where he represented specific communities and patches within the city. In that role he focused on areas in south Manchester affected by changing social and economic conditions and made a point of telling stories from underrepresented neighbourhoods. He has described starting his day by scanning tailored social media columns and channels, checking Google and working through his inbox to source ideas, reflecting a methodical, data-informed way of spotting emerging local stories. He has also emphasised the importance of understanding social media and analytics tools to live-tweet and source stories, which carries through into his current coverage of fan conversations around gigs, rumours and venue problems.
Across music, nightlife, LGBTQ+ issues and neighbourhood features, Maidment writes in a straightforward, reported style that favours clear description and community voices over opinion. His pieces routinely combine practical information – about events, venues and schedules – with a sense of how those moments land with real people in Manchester, making his work particularly attuned to stories where culture, identity and place meet.
4 more music journalists.
Abigail Kellett
Abigail Kellett is a news reporter at the Halifax Courier who stands out for visually led coverage that shows how culture, nightlife and local life play out on the ground. She documents gigs, festivals and major live shows at venues such as The Piece Hall through curated photo sets that capture atmosphere, crowd and setting as much as performers, and she uses extensive image galleries to tap reader nostalgia for nights out in Halifax town centre. Her beat spans arts, entertainment, going out, heritage, books and literary events, along with community life, people stories, local challenges, milestones, transport, regeneration, lifestyle and food. She reports through photographs, checklist-style features, reader-driven lists and roundups of most-read stories, turning announcements, programmes, author events, festivals, shop lists and everyday characters into stories about place, shared memory and how people spend their time.
Adam Lyon
Adam Lyon is a digital audience and content editor whose news beat sits at the intersection of Ayrshire’s cultural life, business environment and public affairs. He works for the Ayr Advertiser and as Digital Audience & Content Editor for Newsquest in the west of Scotland across multiple weekly titles. He covers Ayrshire news with a strong thread of music and local culture alongside business, courts and public affairs. He reports on music when it has a clear community or national hook, treating songs as news events rather than reviews. His business work explains how local firms and retail policy shape town centres. His court coverage uses round-ups of sheriff court cases to show patterns and outcomes. He also fronts video previews and is active in a football supporters trust community.
Alison Brinkworth
Alison Brinkworth is a freelance journalist who treats music as a gateway into place, history and everyday life, often through exhibitions, performances and city-centre events. She covers music within the wider cultural and lifestyle scene, leaning toward accessible, on-the-ground stories framed by familiar artists, venues and local attractions. Her work often focuses on music exhibitions and attractions built around well-known performers, alongside theatre reviews, live events and city attractions. She brings a lifestyle, travel and human-interest sensibility, using interviews and personal stories to show how people spend their time. With over 25 years of experience across print, digital, social media and internal communications, she writes clear, factual, audience-facing articles with dates, locations and organisers, suited to listings, guides and practical recommendations.
Alison Cornmell
Alison Cornmell is Media Relations Manager at the University of Liverpool. She works in the Press Office and specializes in Health and Life Sciences communications. Her role is not journalism. She develops strategic communications that connect university researchers with media outlets and advises academics on media engagement. She focuses on health sciences and life sciences research dissemination. She has also been involved in university communications work such as the acquisition of poet Roger McGough’s archive. She works with colleagues like Cat Owen to produce internal resources that explain media relations to researchers, and she appears in university podcasts about promoting research effectively. She holds education from Manchester Metropolitan University and works within the institutional framework that manages media inquiries, press releases, and researcher-media connections.