Wigan Album

When we had proper shops and didn’t have to travel to Manchester or Liverpool to buy clothes or shoes

But folks don't travel to buy clothes and shoes- they get them from Amazon to their door. You can't blame the Council - or M&S etc - for shops closing when it's the daily choices ordinary folk make about where they buy stuff that determines whether a High Street store is viable or not.

Good photos Veronica, brought a lot of memories back.

The shop where the man is looking is walking past the sign above the window says Ribble, I do remember Ribble Cabinets still being there in the early 1970s.

Though I'd have walked along Millgate many times late fifties early sixties using the swimming baths I can't recall what it looked like then, but by the late sixties when I began working in the town the majority of the shop fronts had been made more modern than shown here, and by the early sixties the Salvation Army Citadel had been built where the building with the bay window was just after Ship Yard on the right as after the baths we and others too would sit on the steps of there eating bags of chips from chippy further up.

The shop with the front gable has what seems to be a winch pulley above the top window, wonder what was winched up there at one time, though it would have been when the roof was in a better condition.

The Army and Navy Store further down was reputedly to be haunted and some wag had put a mannequin hat display head in one of the topmost windows to spookily look down on passing folks, it was never mentioned again and most likely was a publicity stunt.

The Postal service seem to come out very well with customers ordering on the Internet. Usually if ordering that way you need to spend £50 to get free delivery. I don't always want anything costing that much and ordering something more just to avoid the charge. It was the opposite way about for me when I started buying over the Internet , I felt I was being forced into it. I would still prefer going physically shopping. I have lost count of stuff I have sent back via the post office. Plus the queues of folk sending goods back when waiting to be served.... I must admit it's nice if what is ordered comes up to expectations!

I agree entirely with Rev Davids comments. Nothing compares to the convenience of on line shopping and services and lets be honest, if there wasn't a demand for these things they wouldn't have evolved in the way they have. What puzzles me more than anything though is this belief among some that town centres MUST only be for shopping.....why???. Society and trends change constantly and we are simply at another turning point. In another 2-3 generations I cant see there being shops at all in town centres and it will be the norm. Its only people of our age desperately trying to cling onto our memories and experiences and refusing to accept change and progress.

You're wrong Rev,not everyone buys online and there are no proper shops in Wigan where you can buy an outfit or shoes.Which is ridiculous for the size of the town.

As the Rev David says, it's 'clicks' not 'bricks' these days that rules the roost, the closed shop situation will only get worse i'm afraid.
These are brilliant photos especially for those of us of a certain age, that is, OLD !!!

It would have been a few years before the lamp was lit again, if that is the correct date of the photograph.

Best shops in Wigan to shop at are the charity shops

There are some bargains to be had in Charity shops but there are items which are dear considering they were given to the shops in the 1st place. Sometimes I think you should give a donation not have fixed prices for every thing,Not every one can afford what they are asking for the items.

But PeterP, the charity shops still have to pay the same high overheads as do other shops, the council and utility providers don't treat them as charity cases. Very often on Dickinson's Real Deal you'll have folks who have paid peanuts, or has he says 'cheap as chips' for something from a charity shop and get offered a whopping lot more than what they paid, and yet not one of them says they shall donate some of the money back to the charity shop from where they bought the item from.

I am very sorry to argue the point with you " rev david long"
For i completely agree with VAL BRADSHAW it's ok for the youth of today who happen to e computer savvy but for many millions of people who are not ,and do not own computer's their method of shopping was to pop into wigan , but that is not the case now ,because has we all know wigan is fast becoming a ghost town ....

Different shops , places where people meet, characters seen and known around a town give a place an identity and a person a sense of roots.
You will not get this if a town fills its streets with amusement and hospitality. The internet admittedly is an easy option but a lot is being lost because of it.
The future of towns is a difficult one. They used to serve people working in local industry but these have largely gone. Therefore the reasons why many towns grew up have disappeared.
Towns are becoming commuter zones. Times have changed and internet shopping will continue to change towns in my opinion for the worse and we will lose a lot.

I agree wholeheartedly Philip Cunliffe

Different shops , places where people meet, characters seen and known around a town give a place an identity and a person a sense of roots.
You will not get this if a town fills its streets with amusement and hospitality. The internet admittedly is an easy option but a lot is being lost because of it.
The future of towns is a difficult one. They used to serve people working in local industry but these have largely gone. Therefore the reasons why many towns grew up have disappeared.
Towns are becoming commuter zones. Times have changed and internet shopping will continue to change towns in my opinion for the worse and we will lose a lot.

Looks like I need an internet course. I have no idea why the same message went on different days.
It’s obviously a warning about internet shopping

Philip..my iPad is always doing the same..it's a mystery.