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TOWN HALL

28 Comments

TOWN HALL DEMOLITION
TOWN HALL DEMOLITION
Photo: Frank Orrell
Views: 4,101
Item #: 29846
The King Street side of the old town hall building partly demolished in November 1998.
At the time it was stated that the 130 year old Grade 2 listed Victorian building was being preserved for posterity and a mixture of offices were to be built.

Comment by: . Ozymandias . on 30th October 2017 at 23:11

And almost 20 years down the road, what do we have?, you've guessed it, a grade 2 listed car park. Brilliant., who'd have thought it? Not that I have a problem with car parks you understand, if you have a car that requires parking, then nothing fits the bill better than a car park. It's just that I wish the barstewards would tell the truth occasionally.

Comment by: DTease on 31st October 2017 at 09:15

Last time I went on that car park I nearly disappeared down the numerous potholes. How they have the cheek to charge people money for parking there is behind me.

Comment by: DTease on 31st October 2017 at 09:42

It should have read "Beyond me"
Why does my computer think it knows better than I do what I want to write? How do I take back control?

Comment by: Alan on 31st October 2017 at 10:46

Stop being a wise guy and look where you're driving.
The car park is great for Town shopping, I've had no problems.

Comment by: DTease on 31st October 2017 at 12:39

Alan, do you have any other mood setting apart from bad? Smile and the world smiles with you. Cry and you cry alone.

Comment by: James on 31st October 2017 at 18:50

Alan must like potholes...well Wigan is full of them

Comment by: . Ozymandias . on 31st October 2017 at 22:13

And some of them have been there that long, they've acquired grade one listed status. Talk about a third world country.

Comment by: DTease on 1st November 2017 at 09:05

It's a few months since I parked up on this site. At that time the potholes were so bad that it was impossible to avoid them. Maybe they have made improvements since then. I do hope so because the site was in a terrible condition then.

Comment by: Veronica on 1st November 2017 at 09:37

I'm no engineer -but I would have thought the ground mustn't have been filled in enough to accommodate all the cars that park there. There would have been the old cells and cellars under those old buildings and perhaps old Roman ruins as well! Invitations to disagree are most welcome- its all a 'learning curve' as these go ahead young people say!

Comment by: Garry on 1st November 2017 at 18:43

If the is pot-holes, just drive slowly because you're parking up anyway, job done. Drive to the conditions.

Comment by: DTease on 1st November 2017 at 23:13

Garry, you amaze me.

Comment by: GW. on 2nd November 2017 at 08:54

I'm told of a rumour by a chap that once met Tony Robinson that King Arthur is buried beneath the 'King' St carpark!!

Comment by: DTease on 2nd November 2017 at 09:14

Don't tell Wigan Council GW, or they'll probably build a useless Shopping Center on top of him.

Comment by: . Ozymandias . on 2nd November 2017 at 09:48

That rumour could quite well be true GW., as Arthur died at Avalon, or Wigan as it's now known. His precise burial place is difficult to ascertain however, as his mam only reported him missing last week, but it appears to have been common practice in those days to bury kings beneath car parks.

Comment by: GW. on 2nd November 2017 at 10:26

How fitting DTease as "shopping" seems to be the "Holy Grail" in these most consuming of times.

Comment by: DTease on 2nd November 2017 at 11:25

The writing was on the wall GW, I saw it write clear "Guinevere was here" it said "If you see my Arthur tell him his tea's ready"

Comment by: Mikew on 2nd November 2017 at 11:58

Its a temporary surface with no proper foundation or drainage. It is inevitable that the surface will degrade.

Comment by: . Ozymandias . on 2nd November 2017 at 12:04

And if thou shouldst encounter yonder scoundrel tarrying within ye olde Legs of Man, GW, thou mayest tell him from me, that he shall find his mess of pottage to be verily, nay verily I say, within ye dog forsooth. I'm off to ye bingo. Gwynn.

Comment by: DTease on 2nd November 2017 at 13:57

She may say she's gone to Bingo Ozy but I reckon she's out playing fast and loose with that varlet, Lancelot the one who's always waving his weapon about and wearing a bucket on his head.

Comment by: DTease on 2nd November 2017 at 15:17

Mikew, when William Pitt the younger brought in Income Tax in 1799 he claimed it was a "Temporary Measure" to pay for the Napoleonic Wars.

Comment by: Veronica on 2nd November 2017 at 15:30

I heard there was a mystery man in a mask kept down there. He was brought over from Calaise on the ferry. It was thought he would never be found as not many people shop in Wigan now apart from a few 'die-hards'.
His skeleton was found still attached to the mask -he came from somewhere called ' Cristo' I think.

Comment by: Albert. on 2nd November 2017 at 16:19

I have some recollection, that a few years ago, someone put photographs of the basement of the King Street Police Station. Although I myself cannot recollect any basement, when I worked from there. The cell block was on the same level as the parade room. You entered the parade room via a door, next to the fire station, in Chapel Lane, opposite the church.

Comment by: . Ozymandias . on 2nd November 2017 at 18:02

Yes, I've heard about yon rascal DTease. I believe his full title is ' Sir Lancelot de Grand Tincture '. No doubt after his ' place de naissance ' in Normandy, or Brittany, or some other foreign place far superior in every respect to this place, although he was known to his mates as simply tête seau. Speaking of income tax though has prompted me to ponder, when will the Napoleonic wars ever be paid for?

Comment by: Poet on 2nd November 2017 at 18:40

Under the cold ripples of Scotsman's Flash
Excalibur lies,in shining darkness gleaming
Waiting for Arthur to come and rid us
Of holes in our car park.
Centuries passed 'till Arthur came
Once more,standing before the council
And wielding Excalibur spake
"What needest thee now these holes to mend
Is not vain hope in old legend,
Nor help from this, my mighty blade
But man and barrow concrete and spade.

Comment by: . Ozymandias . on 2nd November 2017 at 19:41

And while we're on the subject of debt, having seen for myself many of the thousands upon thousands of commonwealth soldiers' headstones in northern France, I'm also prompted to wonder why the European Union is so persistent in its demand for reparations from this country for leaving the EU. It would appear to me that this debt, if ever it existed, was paid in full ninety nine years ago, then the interest, if any were owed, was paid sixty years ago. Clap me in irons if you wish GCHQ, I'm past caring to be honest.

Comment by: DTease on 2nd November 2017 at 19:57

Speaking of Napoleon I seem to recall that after he died his "tincture" was preserved for posterity and a few years ago whoever owned it put it up for sale at auction. Can anyone verify this? or is my befuddled old brain leading me down the path to the Consulting Couch again? Mind you the Consulting Couch is not so bad, it's the uncontrollable twitch in the right eye that gets me down a bit. Anyway, I digress, back to Napoleon. Is Herbert Lom still with us? Come to think of it maybe that's where I got the twitch from. All those Pink Panther films I watched must have had some effect. He was very good as Napoleon but he was much more fun with Peter Sellers.

Napoleon died on a little island in the South Atlantic called St Helena and the powers that be have just spent a couple of hundred million pounds building a new Airport. Unfortunately, it turned out to be unusable by the Airlines mmmm I wonder if the St Helena Planning Department has been twinned with Wigan's Planning Department?

Comment by: Ann on 3rd November 2017 at 14:19

Garry's good x.

Comment by: Kenee on 5th November 2017 at 11:44

Garry's gone all philosophical, I knew somebody who filled in holes for the council, he was a 'fill officer' too.

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