Wigan Album

Rode/drove past this pub a 1000 times, never one I went in. Was it a busy place ?

If I can make a guess I would say early 1970s, but couldn't pinpoint it to an exact year. I know that the actor Colin Bean who played Private Sponge in Dad's Army used to go in there.

The Waterwheel was definitely there in 1969 as I went in there a couple of months before I was married. I don’t know when it ceased to be a pub though.

I remember Dave Vary being the landlord in the early eighties also Finches Bar. Dave played for Doncaster RL when they made the documentry, Sunday bloody Sunday about the team losing 42 games on the trot!

I would say this is the 1990's?
I'm just going off the recycling bins. I think these different coloured commercial bins were only introduced in that decade.

Late 1980s to 1990s looking at the cars.

23 December 2008 - according to my notes....

I too would say early 1990s going off the security cameras and lights on the wall near the entrance, also the new courts can be seen in the background.

I've been in a couple of time in the 1970s and there was quite a few folk in, though if I remember correctly it wasn't a big pub.

Closed in 2008 as the rev said, later converted into flats.

worked there when it was being built 1968

Not guilty, Pru! I took the pic as I walked into Wigan from Lower Ince, at about 9.15am - because of the sign by the lamp, which reads 'Barber Shop' - a bit of enterprise to keep the pub going, I suppose. The shot I took before this one shows an A-board on the verge to the left stating that the pub was open - so not closed at the time.
Ron's presumably picked up the image from another website to which I'd submitted it - Geograph?

Hi David, I don't know where it came from? I found it in my collection of "Wigan Pub" images I must have had it for years...
I've just bought a Wigan Directory for 1903... Over 500 pages its a GOLD MINE Full of information... There are a lot of pubs listed I have never heard of.. So my next job is to try and trace some images of them<g>

So, we were wrong with the dates and the photo was taken later than we presumed it to be. You got us all there David. It was good thinking of them too to invite customers whilst having a pint to also have a crop.

Crop, Cyril? Dust' mean a pow?!

John, a pow, yes, but despite it being known in Wigan as a haircut it isn't known beyond the boundary, even some folks now living in Wigan may not have known, though they may now. A Wigan speyk dialect listing is on here, though Dust' and Pow isn't on. John, with you initially mentioning them perhaps you may want to enter them or indeed any more you may know, onto the listings. Link here: https://www.wiganworld.co.uk/stuff/dialect2.php
Though you may probably have to email to ask Ron or Brian to enter them for you.

I typed pow and haircut into my browser, though nothing about pow and haircut came up a few links to sites on hair did come up and below are a couple of links to English learning pages about hairdressers and barbers and their differences, they are quite good too with information about hairdressers, hairstyle names and barbers etc., after reading them I can see that I've got a Reverse Crew Cut, short like a Buzz Cut but with nothing on top.
Links:
https://englishlikeanative.co.uk/blog/hair-vocabulary/
https://adeptenglish.com/lessons/common-english-words-7/

Pow- fagged is another word you don’t hear much these day. (Hard work and very busy!)

Veronica, it's interesting to read of how 'powfagged' came to be spoken Lancashire dialect, you can read about it here - https://wordhistories.net/2022/03/18/powfagged/#:~:text=In%20ancient%20times%2C%20when%20a,was%20used%20to%20imply%20exhaustion.

Johnny Stopford was landlord at some time in its history.

Crossed wires Rev, the pub did close in 2008 for the final time. It was then converted into flats.