Wigan Album

No street smelled like Hope Street . A mingling of fruit and fish and the aroma from the chicken shop on the corner .
Poulets turning golden on spits in the window . Tanks of juice stirred by rotating oranges .
There always seemed to be a few cabbage leaves or the odd carrot left in the gutter after the market had closed .

PERCIVAL'S chicken barbecue. BEST chicken butties, I have ever tasted in my life.. FULL of chicken. Must have been 2" thick..

Ron. I left Wigan in 1970. I still to weak at the knees at the memory of Percivals got chicken buns and Bailey's Butter Pies. Days that will never come back.

Wigan market hall had extensions built in the 1950s, being the fruit market and on the other side an arcade. The tall building was Crank and Burtons. I remember a slovenly old woman called Edna born about 1910, I think she lived in Pemberton who used to rummage in the market bins looking for vegetables in the 1980s.

Spot on about the smell Poet,loved it.

Yes,Percival's chicken sandwiches were delicious.x

They did want folks to Eat More Fruit as Jack Hodges sang, as for Everything Fresh Today would depend on which stall you happened to go to, as it was usually one from the top and three from the back. Here's Jack singing and Spike blowing raspberries.

https://youtu.be/F1s5wXIbHXI

Remember this place like it was only yesterday.
As a kid, I had to go to 'Wigan Fruit Market' with my mum. One of my jobs was to carry the heavy bags home after my mum had bought the fruit and veg she wanted. This was because my dad had to work on a Saturday, which was quite normal, and he had the car. At the time, my mum couldn't drive so it was no use leaving the car with her. Also, my mum wanted to do other shopping and the bags were to heavy to carry around.
I remember that my mum had her chosen stalls; she would buy apples at one stall, carrots at another stall, onions at another stall and so on. It certainly drove me crazy, because it seemed to take hours and all I wanted to do was to get home as quickly as possible so I could go out and play with my mates.
Anyway, I have many fond memories of the Market Hall and it is still sad to know that it no longer exists.

In the late 50’s I was very poorly in Upper Johnson ward in Wigan Infirmary and I wanted some peaches and my Dad tried all those stalls to try and get me one. It turned out they weren’t in season so I got some tinned ones but I remember enjoying them.