Wigan Album

All these buildings that appear from nowhere, forgotten about and taken for granted in that void of long ago. Not that I ever went inside, I must have walked by many times..makes the heart grieve for the passing of time...

Although boarded up here, the Derby Arms reopened and closed again on a couple of occasions, before being demolished.
The building to the right of it was 62 Chapel Lane. In the 1970s it held a hairdressers shop, with the remainder of the building given over to scruffy, filthy, bed sits and rented rooms, which were occupied by some extremely unsavoury individuals.

I remember the Derby Arms pub and it was demolished in February 1985 to make way for the ring road. Across the road was the old Wigan fire station at the top end of Chapel Lane with a small church that also went around this time. The railway bridge in Chapel Lane was of low height so no high lorries or double decker buses could go through, it wasn't until about 1970 when the road was lowered so all vehicles could go this way. The parked car looks like a Morris Marina or Hillman Avenger.

I've had a drink in there more than once, was sad when it closed.

mickLD;What was the building 62 chapel lane originally ?

A few years prior to this photograph, and further down to the left was the former Wigan Borough Police garage, there was also a shop that sold good framed pictures. Across Darlington Street, there was a chemist shop, and an alley that led into Harrogate Street.

AH - The layout when I knew it suggested it had always been a shop premises, with living accommodation.
In 1908, it was occupied by a George Saunders, who was a fruiterer, or greengrocer.

Remember one of the last people to run this pub was "Chizzy Gerard" It had a pool table which was so close to the wall they had to have a cue that was only two foot long!

Was the record shop on the opposite side, further down towards the River Douglas, Norman Leather’s?. Opposite there was a cake shop. McCandlish come to mind.

Jack Mathers took it over 1979 after it had been closed for a while, I did some plumbing work for him in there.

I lived here from 1947 to 1955. My father Frederick Barton was landlord with his wife Rosa. My sister Jane was born in 1953 when we lived here. The pub was No 60 Chapel Lane and as it was on the corner I knew all the shopkeepers along Darlington Street we were a complete community there. My father used to take a trip away for the day each year and this was very popular the biggest being 3 coaches and 109 men on it! When we moved in it was in a poor state and was extensively repaired including new floors and roof. We moved in 1955 to the Pagefield on Gidlow Lane. My mother always said that the Derby years were the happiest of her life probably as my father had just left the army having survived Dunkirk and D day.

Annette have you any photos of the interior?

Apparently my maternal grandmother was born next door to the pub on Darlington St at number 4 in 1899.