Wigan Album

Ooops should read SOMERS not SUMMERS

Actually called Oliver SOMERS. As per the original photo.

First comment not on when I posted.

A PROPER shop window... You could spend hours just looking at everything in there. Picking out your next year's Christmas Present.

Some picture on here just stink Wonderful !
So many memories . Thanks Ron , as you say , a proper shop .
Did progress change us , or did we ourselves change ?

Got my first football kit there in 1975 or so (Man United:-)

I got my Brownie Uniform from there....I was 7 years old....unfortunately I can add a "0" to the 7 this year! I was in the Pixies' patrol...."Here we are, the merry pixies, helping people when in fixes"! I've often thought of the many Wigan children who must have wondered how Father Christmas got down their chimney carrying a bike from Oliver Somers'!

It’s not too bad Irene, you’ve only five=years to wait for your free TV licence - I got mine today!

What a fantastic shop for a young boy. Air Guns, Dinky Cars, Leather 'T' footballs Football boots, HALBRO Football and Rugby kits, Tins of Dubbin, Boxes of leather football boot studs, etc. etc. etc. You could guarantee that after very game you would have lost a couple of studs, or the nails of other studs where protruding through, into you feet Many a time after a game my socks have been covered in blood. Was there anything worse than after 5 minutes play you felt a nail sticking into you big toe.. I religiously, every Sunday morning cleaned and dubbined my boots.and replaced any lost studs. There was nothing worse than forgetting to clean them, and the week after, finding they were full of baked on mud and had dried into all sorts of deformed shapes. You couldn't put them on, and when you eventually did, you couldn't walk in them never mind run.. I would also buy the small coloured brochures, for 6d. showing the HALBRO range of football kits for EVERY football and rugby club I was fascinated with them as there was only black and white TV so you didn't know what colours the shirts were, There was also a similar brochure, showing the range of DINKY cars. Wish I still had them.

how did you get a free tv licence veronica at 75 i am 77 and i have just had to pay for mine

I can see bundle of boy scout walking staffs leaning up against the window

It came through the post yesterday. It says ‘your new free over 75 ‘ TV Licence’ …I used to pay monthly for it. I would ring them up. I was surprised I must say. I hope it’s not a mistake.

I'm 81 and have to pay for my licence and i am totally against having to.
Free TV licences for the over 75's in the UK funded by the government came to an end in 2020. From 1st August 2020 anyone aged 75 or over who is/was not in receipt of Pension Credit have to pay for their TV licence. I

I used to buy spares for My model railway .

Veronica, rt, Roy what has the TV licence go to do with this photograph??? If you want to talk about TV licences then do it on the Communicate section

One comment easily leads to another on these posts ..... I often go off at a tangent myself because the photos spark memories that I feel I want to share with everyone. Veronica's comment was actually triggered by my memory of getting my Brownie Uniform at 7 years old and of my being able to add a "0" to that age later this year ...she didn't just put it on out of the blue and it hasn't stopped anyone from commenting on the photograph.

WIGANER, what has your posting got to do with Oliver Somers ?
Well said Irene, i could be bit more scathing than you re WIGANERS comments, this is a person who last commented on Wigan Album or P a D on the 22nd March and that was another scornful remark.

I think some people just like to think they’re the invisible Guardians of Wigan World….
Its a bit like ‘Big Brother’ breathing down your neck in some Russian Gulag , stalking the corridors and listening to whispers…. Roy you should have been a detective….;o))

Well said Roy, Irene and Veronica, when I saw the post my first thought was that WIGANER had got his Jack Boots on again, if he could I'm sure he would go round whacking everyone on the knuckles with a ruler. Better mention Oliver Somers or he'll be kicking off again. The shop was a lot like how Tickle's was - lots of products here and there, and yet they knew exactly where anything could be found when asked.

Remember the joke the comedian told, I can't recall who.
"I went to pay my TV licence today and gave them £35." They told me
"It isn't £35". "So I said, it was when the BBC first broadcast all the programmes being repeated these days."

Some good repeats of vintage comedy worthy of viewing on 'That's TV' late evenings if you're up, the programmes are still being shown.
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/benny-hill-back-on-national-tv-after-two-decades-301427748.html

Another great picture and a reminder of just how vibrant Mesnes Street once was. Sadly, the Mesnes Street of 2022 is quite a pitifull depressing street in comparison to what it once was.

Looking at the shop from the front it was two properties, the one on the right was leather and associated good and the one on the left was sports. Above the leather shop there were three saddlers making horse harness and other leather goods in a room probably only 12’ by 12’.