NEXT CLOSURE IN WIGAN !!!

Following on from my post about the demise of Beaverbrooks in Wigan i also have heard about the closure of NEXT a clothes store in the Grand Arcade , ( i use the word GRAND ) very loosely , From tomorrow 24/02/22. Obviously i will not bore people on here after my lengthy post about the above , so there we have it another Premier store leaving the town centre I presume the reason will be of .a similar one as to the other store. What i am sick of hearing folk say to me " oh well we will have to go to Bolton or Warrington or Manchester. All these towns will become even more prosperous at WIGAN'S expense as for ours i cannot see any improvements at all at this moment in time. I am very sad as to what is happening to my town .....GB

Next - Wigan, Robin Retail Park
Loire Drive, Newtown, Wigan, WN5 0UH, Lancs, UK

GB - it seems to me that Wigan has been thrown to the wolves deliberately and it is going to end up with housing and the odd Tesco (name any others) small shops here and there. I wonder if it's because Wigan refused to take a percentage of the ethnics like Bolton and other towns have done. But Bolton Market is not what it used to be, Bury seems to be doing ok.
If Wigan had had home grown MPs and Councillors, things might have been different.

Councillors and MPs have no control over what happens to any businesses in any towns.

No, Tonks, but all Councils were asked to take a percentage of the ethnics and Wigan refused, or agreed a lesser sum than the other Councils. And I feel that the government's attitude to this is to say that you don't need businesses, you need people living there instead.

First Mate.
I do not want to come across obnoxiously but my whole point with the post is about the demise of losing our top mark stores in the Wigan town centre . I have a vehicle but then again for people who have not got one ,i would like to point out there is no direct bus route to the retail park , as i am aware of , on another point there aren't any public convenience's at robin park which i think is appalling .! GB

By "ethnics" I presume you mean immigrants, illegal or otherwise?

If so, Wigan council have had their fair share of them and will be getting more, soon!

I agree with tonker, they do not control the businesses.
Online and out of town shopping is the cause of town centre shoppings demise together with the lack of affordable parking.
Most large northern towns are suffering from the same problems as Wigan with the closure of the large stores.

Golden Bear

Why are yoo so bothered if Next is closing, it is not exactly your sort of shop is it, I mean they don't sell flat caps, baggy trousers, waistcoats, collarless shirts and clogs doo they

Is there anywhere that still sells clogs, apart from the Scandi variety, that is?

In early 1970's, when I worked in an electronics lab, was required to wear Lab clogs. They had a carbon conductive stud through the sole, so that I could not acquire any electrical charge. Would not know where to get those nowadays. (Alexandra work wear did them, but even they no-longer do.)

Do you still have a Boots in Wigan? if so I understand that there is a sort of bidding war for them so Boots are running the company down with big staff shortages. I suppose the winner that gets the prize will run a similar company - but who knows

Why do you keep blaming councils for the fact town centre shops are closing all over the country GB?

Not all over the country at all, Some shopping centres are Bizzy, chorley, Leigh, Bolton, Bury,
The council are the Managers of the town , they say what , who and how the town is run,
That is why the Council is to blame, they command BIG money to build, run and maintain a good town, Wigan's council is failing but, still paying our tax to high paid chimpanzee's who only care for their own wealth,

When they start pulling things down will the rats as big as cats take over,Think I will give Wigan a miss

Some reading material

Chorley is a better place to shop as unlike Wigan, it has more smaller shops a good indoor/outdoor market and plenty cafes and pubs and hardly any high street stores like what was the case in Wigan a few years ago.

Having two big shopping arcades has also killed Wigan Town Centre.

If you don't believe me, see how many people from Wigan are on the 362 bus on Chorley Market Days.


As Wallace and Grommit would say, a grad day out!

Owe codger I tend to agree about how Chorley has developed,and the style of shops,but parking is as bad if not worse than Wigan

parking is quite cheap in chorley and there are numerous car parks within walking distance to the market

First Mate: ‘Some reading material’

That is an insightful write-up.

The death of the high street’: town centres from post-war to Covid-19
Alistair Kefford, June 2020

(Dr Kefford is a historian & urbanist in The Netherlands)

“Some local authorities are taking matters into their own hands by buying up central area properties” (Wigan’s example - The Galleries) … “Although this gives councils a greater degree of control, it binds them to the profit-maximising imperatives of commercial property development, meaning that they will be *obliged to pursue only those forms of development which promise an adequate return on their investment … (which) may well prove to be inappropriate for towns in the longer term and offer only limited benefits to local populations.’

*Although, didn’t the Council buy The Galleries for a very reasonable sum, so in theory should’ve had more leeway when choosing what to do with it?

"That is an insightful write-up" Yes indeed it is jo anne and I recommend that people read it

5ft Fluorescent light tubes banned for sale next year.

I have several, garage, loft, kitchen.

£5 to £6 each at Screwfix, Toolstation etc.

£28 for 10 on Amazon, free delivery, gen stuff Phillips made in Holland.

No Brainer.

The new town centre "houses" will be filled with Hong Kongers, Middle East freeloaders and probably displaced Ukranians.

New world order has arrived in Coccium !!!!!!!

I think that if Tonker is reet about these Hong Kongers coming here, and renting houses, or even buying them if the five year visa allows, then these house developers, are just after the wealth which those Hong Kongers have, they will no doubt want to rent/buy decent properties, and there is a shortage of new properties in this country right now.

Yoo know what they say, and that is that "Money Talks"

"these house developers, are just after the wealth which those Hong Kongers have, they will no doubt want to rent/buy decent properties"

Let me explain. Again!

The Hong Kongers who are coming here, to the tune of 2,500 a week, that's a week, reet, with 3.5 million queueing up to follow them, they are coming with next to nothing.
They haven't two kuais to rub together!
We've done work for four of the Hong Kong immigrants houses up to now. Two of them, who could speak good English, told me that they have been given a 'settlement grant' to use for 'settling in' to their houses, which are rented but, as they have no money, and they aren't allowed to work, they are getting the houses free! Well, paid for by housing associations, which are government funded, so WE are paying their rent for them!!
They are arriving here with nowt!
This is directly from the horses mouth.
Even though they aren't allowed to work, they are allowed to go to university, free.

"Not all over the country at all, Some shopping centres are Bizzy, chorley, Leigh, Bolton, Bury"

Behave thee`sel Tommy.
Thee` needs fort get out on t`push-iron a bit more old lad. EVERY town centre in the country is facing the same problems......and as for this widespread idea that Bury market is some sort of Nirvanah.......

[......Read this!

Then go and search out some Bolton/Bury/Chorley forum and see what the locals are all saying........betcha a pound to a pinch of sh**e they are all saying our shops are krap and nowhere near as good as Wiggins!

Wots thee got fort say `bout this article Tommy?

Gerrout on t`bike and see-thee fort thee-self

Do not know about Chorley but my daughter says Bury is good.went to Bolton a few weeks ago and it was terrible especially the market

Here you go!

Owd on a minute Tonker

There's been a development !!!!

Well actually that is the wrong word to use, because there is not going to be a development

Bolton Council have dun a Yoo Turn

They have chucked out the golf course plan, and Peel have said, if they cannot have the golf course and ryder cup, they are not going to build those 1000+ houses

LINK

TTTS / I would have you know my dear friend i shop quite a lot at NEXT ,as you are well aware TTS.. And i am no where near your age range yet ,thank you very much !!! FRIENDS ???Who needs them ???? GB

Wigan is dismal now with all the closures, not been good since the 70s in my opinion.