Wigan Album

One of, if not the best, Chippy in Wigan..

My friend Geoff Shryhane of the Wigan Observer once wrote in one of his books about Gorner's Café in The Old Arcade, "It wasn't posh in Gorner's….that was part of the appeal", and the same can be said of the Boro' Chippy and its café....it wasn't posh. It was homely and that is what we Wiganers like. The fish was freshly-cooked, piping hot and with a thin crispy batter....I can taste it yet. I feel sorry for younger Wiganers who never knew the places we older ones knew, and so grateful to Frank for the photographic memories.

Thank's for the memories.Loved this chippy.Also we went to Whalley's every week for our lovely black Labrador's food.

Can't believe it is 15 years since this great chippy closed it's doors forever. I'm sure most people on here will agree that the town centre was still a reasonably vibrant place in the early 2000s.

Great chippy it was too. To the left was the old Salvation Army building, and I think Tom Walley pet shop moved from the hill on mill gate to the back of the Salvation Army.

I loved going in Tom Whalleys pet shop,but didn't like the conditions he kept the animals in,I got my first Persian kitten from him,he used to have the male and female sat on the counter,but I didn't like like the rate that he had the female cat keep breeding,of course it was all profit and I added to it by buying one of the kits..but I love Persian cats and it was the only place I could find one..no internet then to find any..he used to keep what I think was a Lynx in the cellar,and walk around the town with it on a lead..in a cellar,how cruel...but at the time it was the only place to see animals.I still miss it.

Used to call in there on the way home from the baths. You could by a penny crust to go with the chips.

Penny crusts !!!!! I'd forgotten them.

Maureen. I was under the impression that Tom Anally had a pet puma and used to take it for a walk around Wigan.

Maureen. Sorry Tom Whalley I have fat finger syndrome today.

Carolaen,you could be correct,I was trying to remember which animal of the cat family it was.

I can remember when the young waitress was shown how to empty the ashtrays then wipe the bottom of the ashtray with a small brush to clean the ash off the glass at the bottom. Did the big lad who run the chippy/cafe win the pools? just before they closed.

Peter P - I believe he won the 'Spot The Ball' competition, possibly on more than one occasion.

Yea thats right jimmy his name if i remember right a right ugly bugger.

Think it was called Boro Cafe as it was on the corner of Burrows Yard. Yes I think the owner won spot the ball on two occasions, either that or the pools!
Tom Whalley's Pet shop was down on the left after he relocated from the Weind. Tom did have a Puma and he used to exercise it on the waste land that once was the Central Station.
Right at the bottom was a two story building with double barn type doors. Jack Higgins and his wife Kitty had an upholstery business in there after relocating from the bottom of Douglas Street.
Pre First World War my Grandfather George Henry Burrows used to keep his horse and coal waggon in there. Don't know if there is a connection with the name of the yard and my Grandfather, it may have pre-dated him. He survived the war but was gassed at the Somme and died in his forties in ill health not quite recovering form his ordeal.

Best tasting chips in Wigan..

Ron you are right about the chips, in addition the Boro was still selling fresh fish in the 1970's and 80's when must chip shops started selling those frozen triangles!
Come to think of it I am sure there was some kind of fishmongers down Burrows Yard, I distinctly remember vehicles packed with ice and fish coming in and out of there. It must have been around 1955 when one waggon pulled out and a large Dover Sole dropped of the back.
Being opportunist I picked it up and ran home with it. Mum was chuffed to bits, what a feast we had that night, nobody in Harrogate Street had ever eaten Dover Sole at that time!