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Photos of Wigan
Photos of Wigan



Wigan Album

Ashton

11 Comments

Gerard Street.
Gerard Street.
Photo: Ron Hunt
Views: 7,133
Item #: 943
Gerard Street, Ashton in Makerfield. Scanned from an old postcard.

Comment by: Bryn156 on 21st June 2008 at 20:55

Just past Naylors shop to the right of the picture was the bus stop for the WCT buses to Wigan.

Comment by: John Harrison on 10th July 2008 at 08:49

Just next to the car on the right was Unsworth's music and electrical shop, where I bought my first record, 6s 8d. Opposite was the Eldorado ( I think it was that ) coffee bar, where there was always a fight going on, and the lady would break it up saying "This has never happened before"

Comment by: frank walford on 13th August 2008 at 11:48

Spent many an unhappy in the tall building behind Barclays Bank my mother made me go every Sunday to the Congregational Church as was.

Comment by: Kurt on 11th December 2008 at 13:02

I recall in about 1971 standing at the church doorway and looking inside. It was dark, creepy and derelict. Then suddenly it disappeared. If not for this photo I thought I may have imagined it all. There is no trace of it now. Would it's location be where now stands a pub which might be called "The Gerard"?

Comment by: David Thompson on 23rd January 2009 at 12:20

The pub is the Sir Thomas Gerard, the only trace of the church is a small section of church wall between the Bank and the pub where Millingford brook runs underneath.

Comment by: KENEE on 13th August 2010 at 12:07

In response to John Harrison, the coffee bar was ‘The El Toro’. In the early/mid sixties it was run by a foreign lady, Spanish, I think - there was certainly a Spanish connection. The interior was decorated in yellow and orange, as opposed to the usual magnolia and there were bullfighting posters on the wall. I used to call in there after school with a couple of mates.

There were at least 3 coffee bars in Ashton: Rickards, which was higher up the street on the left and Dickinsons Temperance Bar, on Wigan Road. ‘The El Toro’ was more of a ‘café’ than coffee bar and I always regarded it as an afternoon place rather than somewhere to visit in the evening.

Rickards was the ‘posh’ place to go and was frequented by ‘Mods‘, there were scooters parked outside most evenings. Likewise Dickinson’s was the place for ‘Rockers’ justified by the number of motor bikes out front. Many of Rickards clientele wouldn’t be seen dead in Dickies and vice versa. I used to call in both with my particular group of friends, all three if you count El Toro, eventually favouring Dickies - they had a better jukebox.

Although they were called coffee bars not many people drank coffee, ice cream sodas were popular and in winter sasparilla and hot Vimto(really). The patrons of these places were generally in their mid teens, once you reached your late teens/early twenties, pubs became more appealing.

Comment by: KENEE on 15th August 2010 at 10:32

The Congregational Church was demolished about 1971 - 1972. A friend of mine, Ron Taylor, salvaged the church organ and rebuilt it in a shed at the bottom of his garden in Bolton Road. Fortunately it was a very long garden - well away from the houses. He had a big shed but the organ filled it almost completely, even so, some of the organ pipes were too long to fit inside so he had to cut a hole in the roof to poke them through.

If you were ever in the Bolton road area late at night and heard Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor wafting in the breeze, it probably wasn’t the Phantom of the Opera, more likely Ron Taylor in his shed.

Comment by: Sheryl B on 31st October 2012 at 18:30

What a great story Kenee... I wonder if the shed with the church organ is still standing. Wouldn't that be a great background sound for a dark Halloween night in the neighbourhood!

Comment by: Kenee on 6th January 2013 at 19:31

I fear the organ only had a brief reprieve Sheryl, it and the shed are long gone.

Smiley face! LOL, Cheers!

Comment by: Sandra on 4th December 2021 at 11:23

Kurt & Kenee you are mistaken about the years the church was closed as My brother and nephew were both christened in the Congragational Church on Gerrard Street in 1973..
My mum and dad were married there me & all my siblings were christened here. I loved that place. Sunday School, Christmas parties, jumble sales. ????

Comment by: Kenee on 9th October 2022 at 17:13

Not a bad estimate Sandra, I think "about 1971/2" qualifies for 1973.

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