Wigan Album

I find these photos so sad & depressing but its good that someone had the savvy to capture the moment. It still amazes me that whoever was in charge of Wigan Council planning back then did not see the potential of what they had. In our travels we come across many old market halls, people love them & they are attractions. No good saying it would have cost the earth to repair, it would have been money well invested.

well said helen.the only thing from market hall left after demolition would be the roof slates which will be on another roof somwere now.

An utterly sad sight...am I right in saying that at the same time this was all happening Bolton renovated their market for one million and ours cost six.

wigan council are the best at what they do ahem ahem at wasting our money and i am disgusted at what they did to our heritage , take a look at Preston market at all the wrought iron work at least they had people on there council who had a bit of sense

It was all about wads of money in back pockets courtesy of the developers, and the majority of people in charge didn't even live in Wigan and have long since gone from the council.

this new monstrosity they built is now closing down fast they are all leaving because of the greedy council who charge astronomical rents but i think its all a put up job to sell it on take the old council offices in king st what a sight for people coming into wigan we live up to their expections as wigan a dirty town were we eat jam butties and are all idiots which is true were are council is concerned

Well surely its up to the people of Wigan that they never let that sort of thing ever happen again....where I live I think we all know about back pockets & people 'in power' making decisions for us in our best interests....do we ever learn I wonder ?

Take the rose tinted glasses off folks. It was a dirty, unhygienic, smelly, depressing, cold and leaky fire hazard full of tiny unsecured stalls that proprietors disliked. It was well past its sell-by date when it came down and I don't remember anyone objecting in numbers when it did.

MikeW... its not what it may have once been...but what it could have been. The old Bolton market upgrade is proof of that.
Its a matter of protecting our heritage, not destroying it.

I don't know if any of you have visited Bolton recently. They have closed all the market stalls in the Market Hall they did up and put posh shops there. Spoiled it!

I agree on that bit, Jimmy. That was a brilliant Market Hall and they ruined it with all the posh shops. If you were taken there blindfolded you would have no idea you were in that same building. I don't even visit it now when I go to Bolton.I prefer to remember it as it was.

Mike. W. the old market hall was smelly and depressing etc, because it had been allowed to get into that state. I think demolishing it was just another stage in Wigan's ruination. Don't know how many objected to the redevelopment but I did for one.

As a kid I used to look forward to my weekend trip to the market. Every memory was a good one. Since the new market was built, I've only been there a few times. Its nice and modern but totally lacking in character.