Wigan Album

I can recall 2 ice creem vans, and a man with polish that would clean anything.

Got a climbing rose tree from the plant stall near here 30 odd years ago. still going strong.

Gypsy Johnny would tell your fortune by reading the cards

it was a set up pack.. aged 15 I was learning magic at the time and he used to ask someone to pick a card while he had the cards behind his back. when he next looked at the pack he could tell which one was missing from the set up then he would name it

a couple of times I had worked it out before him and shouted it out then he offered to whack me with a stick if I did not go away. There was another bloke who used to cut a volunteers hair with a comb with a blade in it then he would give the vounteer sixpence.. I have to admit getting that sixpence a couple of times and pocketing the shilling my mam had given me to get my hair cut at moot hall behind the parish church

My son had a job on a stall here in the 1990s when he was a student at Wigan Tech, and he got on really well with the man who had the plant stall; I forget his name but when they were about to set the stalls up early on a Saturday morning, he used to sat to my son, "Come on then Jamie, let's gerragate an' mek a door", (but he pronouced it "doo-er).

oh how i wish it was like that today.people were friendlier and helpful and the atmosphere was something else. happy days.

Irene, the man on the garden stall was Cyril Barlow who also owned Barlows Nurseries on Atherton Road Hindley.He sadly died about 2 years.

Thankyou Evelyn, Jamie will be sad to hear that.

Cyril Barlows stall was on the corner as you turned the street towards the bus station opp BHS, it stood looking at the chicken shop, the aromas from the chicken shop stay with me to this day. I also remember there was a Jeans stall alongside Barlows with 2 lads from Liverpool who were basically stand up comedians working the passers by.

Bought many single records from stall outside of market Mostly ex juke box; Cannot remember how much they where

You could get some wonderful plants and shrubs on that market, as well as Cyril Barlow's there was Phyllis who had a stall in the foyer and Jim O'Brien who sold plants and decorative pots and also had a vast collection of cacti and succulents for sale. The market had its own very distinct aroma, a mixture of different scents from the array of stalls.

Clappers (Bill Lyon) must be there someware collecting wood.

Bill, do you mean a stooped old bloke usually had a few days stubble on his chin, used to go round the market collecting old orange boxes and such?

It was in the 60\70s he had no finger tops on one hand and used to rub them into the other so he got called Clappers

It wasn't Jim O'Brien as I originally put but Jim McIntyre who had the plant stall, he came from Whitestake, Preston.

Lol t. I remember buying 45 rpm ex juke box records there, you had to make sure you got a "middle" with the record or you couldn't play it because of the big hole in the centre!