Wigan Album

I have so many memories of this particular area..we lived in Warrington Lane from 1970..when my youngest was four days old I took him to Tescos,put him in the trolley..all the girls,that worked there rushed to see him..the baby clothes upstairs there were exceptional,you couldn't wear them out..nor toddlers clothes
The court cinema I went to a lot as a teenager.,one film in particular I looked forward to..and so did my Dad,so we went together..I was fourteen,a girl from my class was at the back of me in the queue,she tapped me on the shoulder and said "I'm going to tell your Mam about you going out with a lad"..was I chuffed to tell her it was my Dad..my Dad was a very handsome chap, he was chuffed too..I could bore you with more tales about King Street,but I shall refrain.ha ha.

Oh, go on, Maureen.....do tell us!

Fab photos !Spent a large part of my working life in King Street,which unfortunately has deteriorated over the years.

Well Irene,as I said earlier re taking my Son to Tesco's..I had a lovely pram that used to take him in..I would put all the shopping in the tray at the base of said pram and also around the little one..passing the Police Station on the way home I met a friend of ours who was C.I..D, he said "where is the little un" I said "he's under there somewhere"..I could see him but he couldn't among all the food..

Another one..my Mam and Dad were queuing up out side the County Cinema,I was only a child at the time so was with my Grandma..anyway a horse appear running down King Street..my Dad ran after it and calmed him down until the police came.My Dad got a lovely letter of thanks from the Police which is on "Album" somewhere..He did it a second time but I've forgotten where that took place.

Tesco in King St was built on a site that was formerly a church (King St Methodist?). King St. was always a somewhat dismal street to me and is more so now than ever.

Remember seeing the film 'Cromwell' at the Court Cinema shortly before it closed. The fact there was a four foot tear in the screen, which looked like it had been stitched together with clothes line was a bit of a distraction.

Derek,I should think the number of people in the photo would prove how popular it was..some days it was totally packed,it was a great street..I do agree with you on the terrible state that it's in now..we went down a couple of years ago,but have no inkling to repeat it..it was terrible,which is such a shame.

I recall going with the school to watch the religious film " The Song of Bernardette". I think it was paid for by school funds. I know we had to wear school uniform, that would be 1958. I have a copy of the film and I'm always reminded of that time if I watch it again now and then.
The Crawford Rooms was a little further down out of the photo. Scene of many a dance. Always remember it being hot in there, I don't think there was much ventilation and it got very crowded. I think I went there before my introduction to the Emp.

Brilliant stories, Maureen. Thankyou. Isn't it amazing the memories that a photo brings?

I understand that when King Street Methodist Church closed down the congregation left their War Memorial behind. The same happened at the Baptist Church over the road - and at the Methodist Church in Station Road. Nothing has been heard of the memorials since - but perhaps someone involved with the buildings afterwards thought better than to let them be destroyed in the demolitions....

Thank you Irene..I love looking back..where would we be without our memories.

It brings back so many lovely memories of going to cinema, the court and county. My hubby and I went loads of times.I remember Tesco and all the other shops etc that you have displayed . I used to work at a solicitors Ellis Sayer and Henderson. They were near end of Grimes arcade upstairs. I loved working in that area then, it felt respectable .Now...well I wouldn't feel safe I don't think. What a shame things after change SO much and not always for the better .Thanks for the memories.

Valerie. I agree that the area used to be so "respectable" and one of the smart parts of Wigan with the solicitors offices etc. The Court was a!ways my favourite Wigan cinema even more than the Ritz. The Court always felt "special" especially with that separate sweet shop at the side. I left Wigan in 1970 to go off to University and never came back to live there so my clear and best memories tend to be of the 1950s and 60s when I was growing up, going to school and going out with mates etc.However I regularly visited Mum and Dad at least 6 times a year until Mum died in 2009. My parents lived off Darlington Street East and as I always travelled by train (my eyes are bad and I had to stop driving over 30 years ago) I would walk up Wallgate and along King Street and Darlington Street. Over the years I saw the gradual (and not so gradual) sad decline of these areas as much loved offices,shops, cinemas closed down and usually turned into pubs, clubs and other licensed premises.

The sad thing is that it's not just Wigan. We lived close to Watford town centre for 10 years and that had an equally sad decline as the 2 town centre cinemas and the High street Sainsbury's and other quality shops moved out to out of town retail parks etc Even in Bristol - where we have lived for the past 24 years some of the most attractive and historic parts of the city centre have suffered as many offices and banks ha e moved away. Most of these very imposing buildings have been turned into pubs and clubs which are only busy in the evenings. There is a sense of desolation even at lunctime. Add in that many of these lubs, bars etc seem to trade for about 6 months the close down and lie empty for a few months before reopening as another branded bar. I don't know what the answer is but part of the problem is that most of us seem to prefer to drive to a retail park / mall et c to any of the old town centre functions. Town centre seem to be increasingly just about eating, drinking, clubbing or charity shops. Ones that do well usually have some sort of specific offer tourist/historic towns etc where people are still going on large numbers.

The Court cinema, now there's a memory. Coming out one night I slipped on the stairs and slid right down on my bum.

I was sent by my mother for denim in jeans because wranglers here to expensive I came back with tecsac denims ,all my mates took the p never again

Jed ... weren't jeans from Tesco's known as Tesco tearaways ? or was that something else?

Ste Wigan I had some jeans from Tesco and they were called Tec Sacs.