Wigan Album

Back in 1986, there was a sense of optimism that the new Market Hall & Galleries shopping centre would give Wigan a new lease of life.

It worked for 20 years or so, before places like the Middlebrook & Robin Park began to take off, while internet shopping has slowly eaten away at the popularity of the traditional high street.

Sadly, despite every effort to rebuild a new town centre hub in 2023, I cannot see the fortunes of the town improving in the near future.

"Sadly, despite every effort to rebuild a new town centre hub in 2023, I cannot see the fortunes of the town improving in the near future."

- and who is to blame for that - Wigan people.
The town won't support itself.

Isn't that the truth, although the people of Wigan want to blame everything and everyone for the demise apart from themselves

So really technology is to blame… that’s the brute truth of it. The loss of jobs in many areas shows that. I still prefer going in a shop…even though I do like to browse online. It can be an addiction all the same especially for the young. But they are the future of course. Also look at the Banks that are disappearing..No way do I and many my age want to bank on line. We are being co-erced and forced into a world of technology. It seems there’s nothing we can do about it!

Ewan is correct. It's so easy for Wiganers to catch a train at one of the town's two railway stations and 'nip' to St Helens or Liverpool one way or Bolton or Manchester the other, and that's not to mention Warrington. How often have you heard "oh Chorley is nice, and Bury Market is lovely".
Wiganers should support Wigan businesses.

Bolton town centre is even worse than Wigan….all these towns will go the same way as Wigan slowly but surely. It’s just a matter of time.

I think there will come a time when shops re-appear. The young people who buy online at the moment will one day find it a novelty to go into a shop and browse and be able to handle the goods and try on the clothes. It will probably be a long time before that happens but, as with most things, what comes around goes around.

Wigan people can support wigan shops until they are blue in the face.But Wigan Council will still do as they wish. They have supported Wigan Market right up to the end, almost.Wigan Council don't listen to the people who live in Wigan.So don't go blaming them for what is happening now!!!

What on Earth has the council got to do with it?
They have no control on where people spend their money. The council only have a say in council matters.
Wigan people have neglected their own town centre by spending their money elsewhere and are the main culprits for the closure of the shops.
As for the market, well, it's not a proper market and hasn't been for years.

Technology and high rents charged by the council closed the shops!

Correct about Wigan market Bruce but it's the same anywhere, proper markets are an olde-worlde thing of the past. Wigan folk, just like any other folk, will go where the price is right so are tied to travel out of town.

Veronica, the majority of the shops in Wigan are privately owned, they are not owned by the council.
Rent and rates are set by the Government Valuation Office.

Who the hell decided to shut the Galleries and build the monstrosity that is the Grand Arcade, the wigan public? No one knew the effect of Internet shopping and then the Covid pandemic? I dread to think what many town centres will end up?

Veronica - you've mentioned high rents on the shops and this is another factor killing the trade in the town centre. The Galleries upstairs area became empty because of greedy landlords squeezing the businesses so much they moved out or closed. I also remember speaking to one of the staff at WHSmiths just prior to their final days in Dec 2021 and they disclosed the Standishgate branch was going partly due to the end of the lease and the fact they couldn't negotiate a realistic rent from the owners of the building.

The demise of town centres is nationwide . It’s not just Wigan. One example look at Lord St in Southport.
The various reasons have been mentioned above.
The big problem is what to do with them. That is why councils are turning to leisure industries and accommodation. These measures however do not give a town any soul.

Whoever charges the businesses they still have to pay tax on what is earned as well. Those charges have been a major cause of closures.
I wouldn’t have thought the indoor market was privately owned though. I remember the chap who has moved into the little arcade from the market with his Haberdashery goods telling me it was cheaper to rent the shop than the market stall. He got out quick because he knew what was coming… so who will own the new, new, indoor market??

The demise of town centres is nationwide . It’s not just Wigan. One example look at Lord St in Southport.
The various reasons have been mentioned above.
The big problem is what to do with them. That is why councils are turning to leisure industries and accommodation. These measures however do not give a town any soul.

there's nowt wrong with repeating yourself

Wigan shoppers did support Wigan shops and the market, but there comes a time, and through no fault of the shopper or the shop keeper, when the outgoings exceeds the incomings and the shop keeper calls it a day, or when the price of produce means the shopper with an ever tightening budget then has no choice but to look elsewhere.

Whoever sets the rates the shop owners still have to pay them along with the exorbitant rents for the stalls or buildings, plus paying extra to have rubbish removed and as Veronica says paying their taxes, they then have to add these costs onto the price of the products they've bought to sell. Are the councils and landlords of these other towns charging their shopkeepers rents lower than Wigan? if so these shopkeepers could then be passing on this saving and able to charge their customers fairer prices for products, so who wouldn't go elsewhere for the same produce that is a lot cheaper and within their budget.

Wigan being a shopping hub is no more, the council quite rightly I suppose have changed tactics that other councils may find in time they'll have to do too. This town and others are badly in need of affordable social housing which isn't being built, so why not use the infrastructure that is already there and in many cases standing empty by changing the use from retail to residential. The vast majority of town centre shops were initially family businesses with ground floor shop premises with living quarters above, so if needs be these living areas above could be used for social housing and if need be leaving the ground floor separate for business use, if as Irene was saying that shops as we knew them do become operative again.

noticed that all the comments in putting the blame on Wigan shoppers for the town centre problems are so called to be from men ? what if anything do they know about shopping anyway ? get up out of your armchairs and put the kettle on , and while your at it turn off that cowboy film as it's time to do some spuds ! if as you say George from ingley that the market is olde worlde and a thing of the past , why aren't you and your not so merry men all shopping there instead of moaning , it seems to be that it would suit you down to the ground , also why didn't the council have a say in matters that really should have concerned them at the time by helping the shops in the town centre with say cheaper bus fares into town and concessionary parking for cars , if the buses in Manchester can be free for people to hop on and hop off as they please around the city centre why couldn't Wigan have been the same , as we shared the costs for GM transport , and what about the tram , we are the only major town in Greater Manchester that is not connected to the tram network of which we too have contributed to , why didn't the council support us by having a say in the matter that Wigan wanted connection to the tram too , people from Leigh got pacified by Lord Smith with a guided busway for supporting him , Wiganers didn't support him and as usual got nothing .

Well said Sheila, it is mainly the men who
( not all) blame the demise of Wigan on Wigan folk. It pains me every time it’s mentioned. I just don’t believe it is. Young ones yes!

Some good comments on here and some that are completely wrong. Wigan has been connected to neighbouring towns by trains for over 150 years and by bus for around 100 years so the fact people can travel to those towns is not a factor in the mordern era. As for a free bus service around the town centre, is Wigan really big enough because it would be quicker to walk as the found out when they tried the same in Bolton and Stockport. Town centre decline is NOT unique to Wigan it the same in many towns and cities across the country. People's spending habits change, after all, town centres killed local shops in many places and now the Internet and 'out of town' shopping has killed the town centre. It will go full circle because local shops will start to see an increase in trade and then town centres may see the same. Councils can only re-act to what is happening, they don't force people to shop and business rates are set by government and rents by the property owners. Greed is at the root of the sky-high rents and these property owners cannot see having some income is better than no income. Nobody will blindly carry on doing the same year after year just to support a town centre, they will do what is best for them and their family, that is what life is all about and we are free to make those choices.

To John Noakes - have you been to St Helens or Bolton? They are empty just like Wigan is becoming. Manchester too is slowly losing shops and you need to look at Chorley, Warrington and Bury for bucking the trend, so far. Oldham used to have the largest market in England, it isn't even there anymore. Southport is dying, Preston is dying, it is everywhere so catching a train to another dead town centre is not the reason why Wigan town centre is like it is. Besides which, whatever you buy you have to carry home so going by train means not buying too much.

I have sympathy with all contributors on the demise of Wigan as a shopping centre. Pre 1970 it was booming and a north west destination for shoppers, I remember my parent going to Blackpool for a week and booking a Mystery Tour, it brought them to Wigan Market and lunch at the Cafe on Parbold Hill!!!
There are many reasons for the decline which probably started in the 1950's all the housing around Wallgate, Caroline Street Queen Street and Great George Street demolished with people moved out to Worsley Mesnes, Marsh Green etc. Housing should have been kept closer to the town centre.
These days have you tried to drive in and out of Wigan? The Saddle junction is a nightmare to navigate and the roads in and out of Wigan from Ince or Hindley always chocker.
Thankfully we live in Standish, route in and out not quite so bad but Wigan which I used to be so proud of is suffering death by a thousand sledge hammers and its main arteries clogged.
A a pensioner I have a bus pass so now in preference go to Chorley for Tuesday Market or even better Warrington any day of the week which is by far the best town centre in the North West, with I would say Bury a good second.