Wigan Album

What an evocative picture.

Three young lads dressed like old men..
It looks rather spooky up the alley way. I could imagine Jack the Ripper hanging about…. I wonder who was responsible for sweeping the flags with the big wide brush.
I think this photo is already on Album but it’s always nice to be reminded again. Was the alleyway a dead end at that time?

Veronica, the alley was Coopers Row, as was the next alley containing The Kings Head, The Red Lion and The Three Tuns. The alleyways were connected at the bottom behind the Alexander Music Hall which is the building in the centre of the picture.

What a wonderful image, I can imagine the photographer calling out...Stand out of the way lads...& keep still while I take this ..!

Yes Cooper’s Row is still there Peter but more open. Didn’t the Alexander Music Hall become the Empire Picture House not that I ever went in there, it always looked rough from the outside. Or am I in the wrong alley?

Whenever you see a photo of young lads of that era they all seem to take on the look of grown men with the way they stsnd..plus I remember my Grandma talking about going to 'Thowd Alec'..photos like these are brilliant,they really take you back..excellent shots.

Veronica,I'm pretty sure that it became the Empire.

I have seen this picture before but it seems closer and more "alive" here than it did before. I agree with Veronica....it conjures up images of Jack The Ripper and perhaps Wigan's Victorian "Ladies of the Night" in the shadows! It must have been very atmospheric up there, especially at night when those lamps were lit. Next time I pass Cooper's Row I will stand for a moment and picture this in my mind.

Yes Veronica, it was The Empire Music Hall on 1909 map and appears as Empire Cinema on 1930s map. Coopers Row went round it in a U shape. The Red Lion and Three Tuns pubs had their fronts on The Wiend and backs on Coopers Row.

I thought it was Maureen. I always get mixed up with those 2 alleys but can’t forget the Wiend!
I can imagine when it was foggy in those days as well Irene more atmosphere still at night
especially with the gas lamps lit.

Thanks Peter I had forgotten the alley’s were linked. There was a lot of curious alleyways in Wigan at one time. I think you have to look really hard these days to find them.

For more information about Jolleys and the Alexandra/Empire go to arthurlloyd.co.uk and find the Wigan page.

Thanks George, all very interesting. I never knew the Old Dog was a music hall so with it clearly printed on the lamp I thought it worth posting. This area of Wigan must have been so full of life in those days.
Are you the George Richmond my wife and I were in The King and I with sixty years ago, in The Operatic Society. My wife is Alwyn Turner and she played Topsy.

Yes I was I was the eldest son ten years later I played the King in another production.

Very, very interesting link that , George arthurlloyd.co.uk
Thanks for letting us know about that.

Fantastic picture, I had forgotten that it was called Coopers Row.
I remember the Empire, quite a bug house. I was refused entry once trying to view a film called Nudes In The Snow, I was only about 11 and small for my age, the older boys got in and I was told to go home with a flee in my ear and tell my mother what I had tried to see!
Some years later I did get in with my cousin Bob, Saturday afternoon with an old black and white film showing. Most of the seating was dismantled or collapsed. An elderly women was asleep in the row in front, being mischievous we pulled all the horsehair stuffing out of a broken seat crawled under her seat in front and filled her empty shopping bag with the stuffing.
Once the lights came on and the women awoke she picked up her bag and we followed her into Woolworths, you can imagine her reaction when she reached in her bag to find her purse, I can see her now pulling all that stuffing out I'm surprised we didn't get thrown out of Woolworth we were laughing so much.
That could very well be myself and Bob in the picture!!!!!!

Colin Traynor that made me laugh.. the poor woman though. Was it school holidays?
No worse than playing tap latch and running off and playing tricks on folk. A more innocent age in those days.

Are there any programmes or posters of events at the Empire Theatre in the 1920's.
I would like to know what shows and performers might have been on stage at that time with a particular 'Showgirl' in mind who died at a grand old age in Brighton in the 1980's. I have a family connection.

I just came across the same picture on Pinterest credited to Jeffery Patrick Webb on Flickr. It shows much more of the picture and in quite incredible detail. It is incorrectly titled as being The Old Weind Wigan.
The building on the left hand corner which looks to have Jolley's Music Hall at the back is up for sale Friday June 5th and Saturday June 6th, as 'Premises Coming Down' and has an exquisite wood carving on the corner featuring a very detailed carved Cherub supporting a wooden curved carved rail above a curved glass window which probably extended out to the frontage on Market Place. It looks to have been selling Baby Linen, Cloth, Capes and Jackets amongst things which might have been part of a Clearance Sale.
Those two dates land in June 1936, 1931, 1925, 1914, 1908,1903 and 1896 so this narrows down the search as to when the picture was taken.
In addition there is a timber hording above which states Old Dog Inn, Concert Room.
The gable end of the building on the right which is now Galloways, looks to be the same today as I can make out what seems to be a doorway and windows above, the frontage now remodelled.
Question, there are two alleyways leading from the Market Place up to where the Empire was, are these both called Coopers Row?