Wigan Album

It's sad all these little shops and butcher have almost gone, because of the likes of Asda, Tesco and the rest of the supermarkets are interested in one thing only, and thats profit....Greed!
Lovely family business.

What a great photo! I love photos of old shops. It makes me wish I could go in and look round! Thanks for posting.

That's absolutely spot on, the supermarkets only talk about profit and loss, all complaining about poor sales over the Christmas period, yet they all make millions.

I when I was 6 years old in 1948 your dad would ask me to dance on the duckboards behind the counter,and I can taste that boiled ham now, Tommy used to cook it himself. Memories

Brilliant photo Tom.
Who remembers bacon and ham slicers, wire cheese cutters and butter patted and wrapped to order! Great days and a cheery smile at no extra cost!!

I youed take orders for youers dad on the byclcle he two sons j smith

Thanks for the lovely comments on my photo. Yes..both ASDA and VAT contributed to the end of this small shop. Dad used to cook whole boiled ham legs in the kitchen, he was famous for it. The nearby shops included Donald Heaton's next door, Meadow Dairy, Bakers newsagent by the alley. On the other side there was Mrs Gills vegetable shop, Olivers grocers and Billy Mellings shoe shop on the corner. Really good memories.

Yep, it is indeed a real shame these shops are almost gone now because of the supermarkets, but I think we are partly to blame for that because we go to the likes of ASDA and Tesco. We moan about spending that little extra pence or a few quid on items which are probably only marginally cheaper at the supermarket. Great photo, it's like Arkwright's shop from Open All Hours.

I always remember mi mam saying, go shop and get 1/4 lb boiled ham, 1/4 lb cheese, 1/2 lb bacon, six eggs and 2 lb sausage. 2 lb of lard. Fried bread in lard..great. Now it's all packet stuff with sell by dates on and you need scissors to open them.

Yes, Garry, and all wrapped in greaseproof paper and paper bags, and carried home in a basket or a brown paper carrier bag with string handles. I love old packaging and have paper bags hung in my kitchen, and I also have some original ones with Brooke Bond Tea printed on them. I carry a basket to do my shopping and get lots of comments on it in Wigan.

We are all complicit in the demise of the local small business operators.
When the supermarkets came to town we were all so glad to give them our custom, with never a thought of the genuine individual who ran a damn good business and offered personalized service. Now they are gone, and so is the real English way of things. It is said that you never really know what you have until it is gone, and so it is with this wonderful aspect of English life and the sad thing is it will never ever be again.

I suppose the Home and Colonial Stores were the forerunner of the supermarket and Dave Whelan at Market Square. I remember some shops having marble serving counters!

Spot on Syd and Irene. you only have to look at our railway systems and stations. We've all said it before, you can't beat the old days. Look what happened to Woolworths...I would have thought they'd go on for ever!

Tom, Melling's Shoe Shop has been closed for years. I wonder why it's never been sold. Brilliant photo.

I recall that on the awning over the shop were the words "Tommy's Shop" propr. T Smailes. I used to think that "propr" was for proper. as his real name!! My grandma lived on Victoria Street and when she went shopping on Ormskirk Road she would say that she was going on t'front street.

Who remembers that butter that came in a barrel and was weighed out and sold wrapped in greaseprooof paper?

Garry, well said, especially about Woolworths

There's no VAT on food.

I agree with Garry. I remember a time when children were sent to the fish and chip shop, (fathers down the pit). They would simple say , I've com for mi dads dinner, AND the chip shop would know. That was how the community was, everyone knew each other so protected each other.

I love that, Beth!

Thanks Mary and Beth, and it wasn't unusual to pay the shopping bill every friday at our local shop. People had trust then. It was known as "on the tick", as soon as the wage came in, it was paid. It came in very handy with big families.

When we were kids, Saturdays meant pictures and Woolworths, Great times....Watch a film then buy a record.

What about the tins of biscuits, usually in front of the counter, all loose, and different kinds. Paper bags were nearby, to fill your own bag.

Tom, was your family related to the Smales that had the brewery that was at one time behind the Bowling Green pub across the road.

I have lots of memories of shopping here with my mum many times a week. One lasting memory is of Tommy writing the prices of the all the items bought on the top of a 2 lb bag of sugar before adding them up. Does anyone remember the wooden bench that people used to sit on whilst waiting. I used to love watching the hand operated bacon slicer whizz towards my face as I watched with my nose up to the glass screen

Yes I can visualise Tommy with his white apron on,pencil in his ear,always that smile on his face,friendly banter with customers taking your order and writing the cost, sometimes on the paper he was going to wrap the items in.my mother and dad had some photos of Tommy and Mary just after they got married,and also one of Tommy when he was in the navy,as I said memories

I lived in Ince so have no memories of this lovely shop, but I can recall the assistants in the co-op in Ince adding up my Mam's order on a long slip of white paper, using a pencil that they kept behind their ear, first adding from top to bottom, then from bottom to top, to check the amount. It was another world!

I attended St Marks school during the 60's and Mr Pennington (junior 3 teacher) would send one of us out of class with instructions to go to Smales with a list and some money to do his grocery shop! Can't see that happening today somehow.

Thanks again for all the lovely comments, I never thought the photo would have so much interest. To answer some of the points.
As far as I know we weren't related to any brewery family, but there were some relatives in Newtown (or Robin as we always called it!)My dad's brother George lived in Albert Street, and their daughter Elsie married Ronnie Mather, the WRLC hooker of the 1950's.
I well remember Mr Pennington at St. Marks, as well as Mrs Silcock and Mr Birch - they married eventually.
And as for the famous Berkel bacon slicer, well it had a setting from 0-14 to adjust the thickness and most regular customers asked for a certain setting, thin made the bacon go farther!! Try that in ASDA. When Dad died in 1977, we gave it to Aladdins Cave, a 2nd hand shop up the road, but doen't think we got anything, it would be worth something today.
Once again thanks for all the fabulous memories.

You don,t know what you,ve got till it's gone!

Tom when you mentioned other shops in the same row as your dads shop Harold canty the barbers,mind you he was that quick you may have forgot you had been in

Tom and Fred, Why do you think Mellings shoe shop has been closed for years and never been sold.

Tom, you have obviously touched the hearts of many Wiganers by putting on Wigan World things that we want to see. These old photos of Wigan shops, and all things of the past, are what Wigan World is all about. Thankyou.

Mariem, it was sold but to who I am not sure,but the owner stores furniture and at times you see a box van unloading and loading but not very often. I think it's just for storage

how these comments bring back memories of when i was a child going to my aunties in Newtown.my auntie lived at the back of cantys shop.i remember as a young girl going to visit her and my uncle every Saturday and many a time i would sit in the barbers shop watching him cut the mens hair it always fascinated me how he would sharpen his razor on the strap hanging at the side of the shelf and the red stick ( cant remember what it was called )he used.if Harold wanted a cuppa my auntie would make him one.i remember Mellings shoe shop ,Bert Olivers,Tom Smales and who remembers Donald Heatons electrical shop? happy days :)

Cyril. I think the brewery was Swales wasn't it?

margaret s - the barber would have his styptic pencil to hand for stemming the blood when he nicked a customer's face with his razor.

You are right, now I remember, it was SWALES brewery. And one of my earliest memories was going to Canty's barbers and sitting on a plank of wood he used to put across the chair arms, so little kids could sit at the right height. When he was done, he used a lighted wax taper on the back of your neck - Health & Safety would probably ban it today!

Yeah that's it thanks Rev David Long couldn't think what it was

I had been thinking about the past and this shop recently, this is my uncle Tom, well I called him that he was my mums uncle really. I am so happy that I have found this picture, it brings back lots of happy memories. We used to live in Scott Lane, and shop here all the time, we did a 'big shop' on a Saturday and I used to sit on the counter, whilst my uncle Tom, got our list together. My mum was Hilda Gaskell before she got married and her mum my nan was called Sarah (Sally) Smales, before she got married.

my mum shop there ones a week

I was the order boy for Tommy Smales, still got the aching legs.

My dad, William Ardern Mason had the grocers shop at 38/40 Victoria Street, and, like you and Arthur, I was born over the shop in 1948. I remember you and Arthur playing Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee in a St. Mark’s Sunday School pantomime. I played Jack fro Jack & Gill in the same pantomime!