Photo-a-Day  (Tuesday, 9th May, 2023)

This is like a dream sequence of Wigan Past… where is everybody ?

That place would have been thriving with people and traffic years ago. Has someone thrown a boomerang. Not much going on for business.

Vape shop . Betting shop . Fast food shop . 'Turkish barber' shop .
Not a lot to attract me to town these days .

Its early morning so all the locals will still be in bed

Shows how long it is since I was in Wigan town centre - apart from Subway I don't recognise the names above any of the premises in view. So sad to see it now when you recall how vibrant it used to be and without daytime drunks and aggressive beggars.

Dave is spot on.
Junk foods, barbers, betting shop, £1 shops no quality shops anywhere. You can't beat the old cafes. Only the younger generations keep junk foods going. We're getting like USA all the time.

wigan is just a poor town with mostly poor people

It did used to be vibrant Derek..I have a memory from literally every shop in Wallgate..i would go up Wallgate every night except Wednesday to go to the ' Emp...lovely days.

Probably all gone to Chorley or Bolton if any sence!

Bolton is worse if anything and even more desolate looking.
There’s more folk sat around tables drinking coffee in Wigan. I have noticed even when it’s really cold they sit at outside tables especially near the Royal Arcade.

Bring back the 50s and 60s.

One of the units on the right used to be the Burnley Building Society.
Most town centres are suffering now, including Newcastle close to where I live - most cities are scrabbling for money as car parking is no longer a cash cow and no one seems to be cycling into town down the endless "green" traffic free zones and cycling lanes. Fewer cars yet more congestion.
People complain about Wigan on this site - the comments in the Bolton News about their town centre are sheer vitriol by comparison, especially around the issue of aggressive begging and drunk layabouts.

You initially got me with this photo Dennis as I couldn't think of whereabouts it was until I recognised the top part of the buildings on the right, I don't know any of those shops now and has The Raven changed names, the big sign with a Raven has gone with the small sign looking like a Hawk perched on a hand, and the wide pavement, it certainly has changed a lot from the last time I was in Wigan.

We have been getting like America since the 1940s, especially with their way of life and the wanting for nothing being most appealing then, and to many too, so we then got more American films and later Popcorn and M&Ms, American fashions, American music, American food, American speak and spellings along with the dark side of American culture too with narcotics along with more and more stabbings and shootings.

And your comments on Chorley Veronica please?

No worse than anywhere else, some town centers alot worse.
Society has generic problems not just central to Wigan.
Give the re development a chance and then judge.

I can’t speak for Chorley but have heard many good reviews about the town. I no longer drive so it would be inconvenient for me to get there as it would take too long Shevvy M. I’m a slave to trains and buses unfortunately. It surprises me that towns like Chorley and Bury have beaten the decline but Wigan can’t.