Wigan Album

I left Wigan some 57 years ago but the Roy Cafe remains a very strong and fond memory of my Wigan days, even though I only visited occasionally. I would never have guessed it employed so many staff. Thanks for posting Ron.

The lady second from the left on the back row looks like an aunt of mine, if it’s not her it’s her double. They seem to be dressed in differing uniforms and ordinary clothes. I never went in that cafe it must have been too posh! I wonder when it closed.

Jane Roy Gorner in 1921
1921 Census Of England & Wales
54, Kenyon Road, Wigan, Lancashire, England Household members (5 people)
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First name(s) Last name Relationship to head Sex Birth year Age in years Birth place Occupation Employer
Mary Gorner Head Female 1870 51 Leigh, Lancashire, England Restaurant Proprietoress Own Account
Richard Gorner Son Male 1892 28 North Ashton, Lancashire, England Restaurant Proprietoress Own Account
Jane Roy Gorner Daughter-in-law Female 1895 25 Liverpool, Lancashire, England Bookkeeper Motor Engineers B B Bunwell & Co Ltd
Frank Sutton Son-in-law Male 1897 23 Warrington, Lancashire, England Military Clerk West Lancashire Turitorial Tour Assocn
Annie Elizabeth Sutton Daughter Female 1900 20 North Ashton, Lancashire, England Manageress Restaurant Gorners

Jane R Gorner in 1939
1939 Register
1 Ashland Avenue, Wigan, Wigan C.B., Lancashire, England Household members (4 people)

First name(s) Last name(s) Birth date Sex Occupation Marital
Richard Gorner 15 Aug 1892 Male Restaurant Proprietor Married
Jane R Gorner 21 Sep 1895 Female Restaurant Proprietor Married
Kathleen C Arnell (Percival,Gorner) 04 Sep 1909 Female Restaurant Supervisor Single
Elizabeth McGrath 13 Jan 1885 Female Paid Domestic Servant Single

winnie thanks for your input You are a STAR

There looks to be flags flying either side of the entrance along with two plaques, could they have been in celebration of a king and queen in a coronation, perhaps either of Edward VIII or George VI.
Though with a lack of other bunting maybe it was for Ted and Wallace.

Veronica, was her name Evelyn Holland who lived on Darlington Street East?

No she was my Aunt Nellie ( Ellen Prior before marriage) Cyril. She lived in John St at the time. She does have a look of the woman in the photo. There’s a photo of her marching in Wigan with Munition Workers during the war. I’ll see if I can find it.

No she lived in John St at that time Cyril in the house where I lived.
She was Aunt Nellie to me.

Okay Veronica, the reason I'd asked the woman I mentioned had a similar look to the woman in the photo, and was the shop manageress at Watkin's confectioners, where I once worked, and the girls in the bakery did say she was a terror and had also been so too at Waterworth's fruiterers as a manageress, and all because, they said, because she'd been someone who had barked orders when in the ATS.

I knew she lived on Darlington St East as I'd seen her a few times later on when I'd worked at St Catharine's.

I had a Great Aunt Nelly who too was a Ellen, wonder how they became to become Nelly, I'd prefer Ellen.

I’m glad I wasn’t her Cyril. She was a very nice mild mannered person anyway.

Actually in later years she lived in Cambridge St off Darlington St. Cyril.

Corner also ran a restaurant in the Old Arcade.The thought of it brings the smell of meat and potato pie and mash to my nostrils
If the bunting was outfit was not for Edward VIII .He was never crowned
I stood on the Market Hall side of Market Street for the first visit of George VI and Queen Elizabeth after their coronation.1938with the rest of Miss Shacklady's class at St Catharine's

Cyril, how that name (Miss Shacklady) resonates with me. I attended St Catharine’s School 1949 to 1953 and her name preceded my arrival (my mother and aunts had all attended before me). I honestly can’t recall if indeed I ever saw her, let alone that she ever taught me. Mrs? Fletcher, Miss? Boyer, Mr Shelton, Miss Woodcock and Eddie Rudd, they did, but the name of Miss Shacklady remained etched in my mind.

Keith.She was still on the staff when I left in 1943
though she had been a pupil teacher since before 1900
She was one of a large family, pillars of St C's church
Aunt to miss Clarice Willcock
Like all her generation, formidable.A user of Carbolic soap on the tongue of any child using a naughty word

I was born and brought up in Wigan but I've never heard a 'Roy cafe'