Photo-a-Day  (Wednesday, 31st August, 2016)

That queue of customers on the right look a bit pale. Not much sunshine in Wigan, eh ?

Good one Mick. I was always under the impression that the Royal Arcade was the "posh" one.

Theres a video here of the Royal Arcade

https://youtu.be/8s3soXK89oY

Is the Royal Arcade the one I used to know as The Little Arcade off Menses Street ?

Didn't know that it still exhisted the royal arcade I can always remember walking through when I was younger and at the end a baby clothes shop and the lady was called Shirley who worked in there.

Helen of Troy. We always called this the Royal Arcade and for some reason it was always thought of as the "posh" one. We did also always call the long narrow arcade that had Gorners cafe and Smiths bookstall in it the "Little Arcade" although a lot of people on this site refer to it as the market Arcade. This might well be the proper name for it but all I can say is that I never heard anyone call that one other than the Little Arcade when I was growing up in Wigan.

The arcade with Gorner's Cafe was officially The Market Arcade, but most people called it The Old Arcade. I only ever knew the above as The Royal Arcade

First time I've heard of this arcade being called posh? Looks to be more shops open in there than the other arcades.

Ali the homeless Pakistani would bed down in there in the early 1970s, he would be out of the rain though a very draughty place to sleep, anyone remember him.

Alway's knew them as Big Arcade &Little Arcade.

Yes, I remember him well.

I loved this arcade if only for the aroma of ground coffee. Occasionally on a Saturday I would go in the shop and taste the coffee of the day although strictly speaking it wasn't a cafe. Gifts were sold associated with coffee. I still have a cafeteria pot bought from there. I think the shop was called Peabody's -correct me if I' m wrong.

It was Peabody's until not that long ago, Vb. The Makinson Arcade used to smell of coffee too, when I was little, from Makinson's. Coffee Shop at the bottom of the arcade. It later became Mark Williams'Butchers, and is now Thornton's Chocolates, but the Makinson's name is still there, in mosaic, on the step.

I am with on that one Vb! The aroma of the Royal Arcade was always fab!

Titus

Cyril, I walked through here a few weeks ago and,sad to relate, a lot of the shops are empty. Same can be said for Makinson Arcade as well and the Market Hall is a joke. More empty stalls than open. Rents too high perhaps?

Yes I too loved the smell of coffee in there..and I was fascinated by the huge jars that sat on the top shelf in the coffee shop..on another note..I had my ears pierced at the age of sixteen in the Arcade,much to my Dads disgust.

Say's a lot about Wigan nearly deserted.