Wigan Album

Noticed a starting handle on the front of the coach, would folk need the strength of Atlas to turn/crank and start the engine of a coach or would it not be much more difficult than starting or cranking a car engine?

On the opposite corner of Water Street to the Drill Hall was a large detached house like structure which most likely would then have been the offices for Santus, later it was Poppleston's Plumbers which probably would have moved to there when the row of buildings on the corner of Standishgate and Powell Street were to be demolished and this building was vacant.

Centre left of the photo are the shops at the bottom end of Greenough St and at the back the tall building what was Maidwells sewing factory, and which later was used as lecture classrooms by Wigan & Leigh college, the building did have a name, but I can't recall it. On the Album is a superb photo by surfer tom of part of these shops etc., and the shops on the opposite side too. https://www.wiganworld.co.uk/album/photo.php?opt=5&id=31392&gallery=album&offset=0

With the great number of shops in and around Wigan that were then dealing in cycles and/or cycle parts and accessories, there must have been many more folks buying and riding bikes back then than there are now, and they coped splendidly without all of these designated cycle lanes that are around now, and before I get pilloried, I do agree that the majority of motorists back then had a lot more respect for other road users, so perhaps lessons on respect for others on the road and patience should be part of the driving exam theory, though after the test everything goes out the window.