Wigan Album
GRIMES ARCADE
15 CommentsPhoto: DTease
Item #: 31662
I think that is a brilliant composition and instantly recognisable -brilliant!
been down there many a time . just before the barbers sign where the for sale sign is there was a bar there called the stagedoor , is it still there ? .
It`s certainly a mess now whups.
Wonder when anyone will be able stand there and look at that view again?
Has anything been done with the building that was Pennington's, the last I heard was that a restaurant was to open there, but that fell through. I've no idea of the year it was built, though it is a listed building. I remember Tom saying with it being listed every repair has to match the original material and when they had work done at the rear they had no end of trouble getting matching bricks, because all the original bricks were hand made.
My old Wigan Borough Police sergeant’s wife, worked in Grime’s music shop. He was Bert Hitchen, he had been in one of the Guards’ regiments. He would march us up King Street, when we were the night duty section, and dismiss the section, at the top, for each of you, to deploy to your respective beats.
I went past the Georian house yesterday. There must be something going on as there was some covered material all over it. I don't know whether work is going to be done on it.
It must be at least 25 years since Grimes Arcade closed as a thoroughfare, due to regular night time vandalism. There used to be a music shop, I think it was Dawsons, and in King Street a Sue Ryder charity shop.
Was it not Fred Dawes?
The wigan job center was on the left just past the white van.
Lucy - Dawsons was the music shop, they moved there from Hallgate in the late 1970s.
They were in the premises on the right hand corner of the the arcade and King St. If you look at King St on Google street view their shop sign can still be seen above the boarded up shop window.
I think I may become very boring DTease !
The original music shop was named Grimes they one has a guitar in the window which reduced in price by £1 every week until it was sold
I'd bought three Shadows reel to reel albums from Grimes' during The Sixties. Two particular favourites are the group's version of Brazil, and, also, of Hoagy Carmichael's My Resistance is low. Great noise!
I used to go in there as a teenager..listening to records in the booths..later on they used to have two beautiful pianos in the window,that was when I would go down King Street with my Mam...the last time I went past it just
reeked to high heaven of urine and vomit...such a shame.
I loved walking through the arcade, footsteps echoing as you went along. Always clean and tidy. It was a good shortcut as well. Just up the cobbled street on the left was Valmar Fabrics, bought many yards of material from there in the 60's. Opposite was a lovely wool shop, I think it was called Crawfords. Many interesting shops then in Wigan... What a loss!