Wigan Album

On the contrary Keith, I think it bring the picture alive . The 2 public houses were eventually taken over James Lowe more than doubling the size .
Lowes was my first employer, I was very happy there and in all likelihood have stayed till retirement. The firm wouldn't move with times , and eventually was taken over my Greenwood's who completely ruined the firm .

The White Lion on the right, then The Bulls Head and the Black Horse is just visible on the corner of Church Gates.

Such a smart town in those days. It was a pleasure to go shopping.
There seemed to be a lot of ‘well off’ folk then who shopped in Lowes and Pendlebury’s. It was a prosperous and important town to my eyes once upon a time.
If only it was like that now. There’s hardly any reason to go there anymore sadly.

The White Lion is built into the attic brickwork of Lloyds Bank.

I think that the gentle colouring brings everything to life. Just look at the roof line, all those turrets etc...& the one that looks as if it is a copy from a chateau.
All the people neat &tidy, the lady with the cloche hat & fur trimmed coat. A wonderful scene.

It's a pity no one had the vision - or the money - to have the buildings on the right demolished completely to form a proper town square spreading from the Market Place to All Saints' churchyard - with the War Memorial as its commanding feature.

When the Lowes building was demolished to build the new Barclays Bank building. The open view from the Market Place towards the Parish Church was superb. A lot of the Wigan people wanted it to stay like that but it was all down to money...I'm sure there are some photos on the site showing what it was like?

l hesitated to say, but your positive comments have encouraged me, that although not a brilliant colour transformation the colouring seems to bring to notice some feature that we may have missed when viewed in black and white.

Keith, the colours are perfect. They are muted rather than bright and fit in well with the "thirties" look, and, as Tom says, they bring the photo to life. I agree with Helen on the ladies' coats and hats...beautiful! I have a little cloche hat that my daughter-in-law bought for me some years ago as she thought it was a "forties" hat, but it's much more twenties/thirties. I never told her so as I absolutely love it and people say, "Oh, that reminds me of Downton Abbey!" and I feel like Lady Mary until I look in the mirror and I look more like the Old Grandma! Helen, we watched a programme the other night with a brilliant group of singers from down your way....they were called "The Sheringham Shantymen".

I bet you enjoyed their Sea Shanty songs Irene. Before covid we went to Cromer Pier theatre to hear them in concert, a great evening.
Also....you will be interested to hear its the 40's weekend in Sheringham, the town will become a 1940's town for 2 days.. & be packed with visitors in 1940's attire , coming from all over the place.

I'm sure a good time will be had by all at the forties event, Helen. I hope Keith colourises some more old photos of Wigan for us to see with those lovely subdued colours; they're not over-bright or overdone...... they're just right for the time and that's why they work so well.

Strange in that I took a picture from the same spot only a few weeks back. The dome on the building at the the corner of Library Street and Wallgate is still intact, but the structure on the building on the opposite corner (used to be Bradford and Bingley in the 1970's) with the sloping roof and rails on the top was removed some years ago leaving it even today looking a bit decapitated. Would be lovely to have it restored.

Great picture

What was that building on the right between Lowes and Allsopp, Bank, Pub, Hotel????
Also the Allsopp building itself, the sign above looks quite grand. I think Martins Bank had a branch along there at one time which eventual became Barclays Bank.
There is a picture of Martins Bank (or at least a glimpse behind a bus!) somewhere on Wigan World or you could Google Martins Bank Wigan for the picture and some interesting background information.