Wigan Album

Wigan Council should be ashamed of themselves for that. I hope they enjoyed their backhanders and jollies. They have left us with an arcade with no character the focal point being a grotty bronze of George Formby.

So sad. Always does me in this picture. So alive and vibrant once.

I could cry just looking at it.

Kas,Maureen, late 50's early 60's those were the day's .Planning Dept Wigan Council hang your head in shame ( again).

Yes its making me cry to, Just imagine bringing a friend to old Wigan and showing them a cheap mucky street like this.
I did I brought back my girlfriend now my wife from the beautiful island of Singapore and I was embarrassed showing her places like this

I wonder how they were allowed to demolish The Ritz, an iconic building in Wigan. I suspect they wouldnt get away with it now. Smacks of leaving a some sort of legacy of their time in council, some legacy.....

Mick,you've no soul..and as for comparing us to Singapore..well,forget it..

I used to love going to this cinema, it was a lovely place. One memory is not so good, I can say where in the stalls I was sitting, can't remember who I was with or what we had come to see, but the newsreel showed the day the British army entered Belsen.

Mick,

Why not go to Singapore then.

Wigan Council should be ashamed. They should never have built the Grand Arcade. It has ruined the town centre.

I wish I had 50p for all the times I went to the Ritz! Like Maggie one time stands out in my memory when President JFK was shot and killed-the place was in total shock when it was announced and yet I don't recall the film!

The foyer of the Ritz I thought was second to none..it was absolutely lush..
and the ABC minors as a child was great..just sheer enjoyment..oh where did my youth go.

"We are the Ovaltinies little girls and boys"......Maureen as Oscar Wilde said "Memory is the diary we all carry about with us"!

This empty windswept Wigan streetscape just begs for a drawn out gun battle with a steely eyed Clint Eastwood his back to the Ritz end and a crafty handed Wigan councilman ready to be served his just deserts!!![ popcorn anyone?]

Can hear the music and the long drawn out whistle and Clint chewing on that cigar -wearing his tatty poncho and stetson shading his narrowed eyes!!! Go get 'em!

Peter and I went on our first date there.....I was 15 and he was 17. We went to see "Bonnie and Clyde". Peter bought a box of Clarnico Mint Creams from the kiosk. We sat on the back row. Peter never took his eyes off the screen, ate ALL the chocolates and made me come out before the end as they all got shot! I am still with him; I am now 64 and he is 66.....am I barmy or what?!

Irene, it sounds like YOU never took your eyes of the mint creams!

I remember going on a date to the Ritz. Bought the obligatory ABC FILM REVIEW and a box of Milk Tray ( I only ever bought them on a first date) When I opened the box of chocs I noticed that they had a white colour on them I think they were what we now call OUT OF DATE No such things in those days. Anyway the girl I was with wouldn't eat then so I ate then all, except two, and at the end of the film I went back to the kiosk and said we hadn't noticed the white on them as it was dark, so I got my money back. I think that was the start of my life as a SCAMMER L.O.L.

We all have very special memories of the Ritz.

Yes,I think almost everyone misses the Ritz. Not only was Station Road home to the Empress Ballroom (later the Casino)and Powell Children's Library it, did have character and we lost anywhere that you could call a proper venue. It's no wonder people have to go to Manchester and Liverpool to see top artists play as there is nowhere in Wigan they could play.

Such a sad picture,took the heart out of Wigan and replaced it with "grand arcade" amongst other eyesores...galleries and new market hall.