Casino - moved it to here as no responses on place

Most remember the old Casino days, then the 'all-nighters' and the rock nights... but what about the demolition. For a while there was an unused derelict space before a temporary prefab building was erected.
So, most people would have gazed at and maybe despaired of this blank space... with some with nostalgia.
BUT... the blank space revealed something which I found rather spectacular. Against the rear retaining wall was a huge mature fig tree! How many of you remember this? It was an outrageous violation to let it go unrecognised and erased without concern with the only concern for redevelopment. This could have been a tourist attraction as part of a potential very interesting heritage trail... but not much heritage (in terms of old buildings, etc) now remains. What other town or city centre has or had such a rare and incredible example of an ancient Fig Tree in the heart of its main centre? Many remember the Moot Hall, the Fleece, the Ritz, the Commercial Yard, the Old (little) Arcade, etc... but who remembers the Fig Tree?

I never knew about that JR. Such a pity that the tree wasn't preserved as a relic of a time gone by, and nurtured. Too many keen to redevelop instead of hanging on to what they have, all in the name of money. I wonder if a photo was ever taken of the tree.

They're more interested in building ugly monstrosities instead of maintaining things of historic and beautiful interest.

Why should they bother about a fig tree when they have built over roman ruins?

That's a good point, Rio, and we have to wonder what kind of people these are to desecrate the heritage of what was once a lovely town. They seem to have no sense of history but, at the same time, I wonder how many of those that desecrate are actually from the Wigan area, and just don't care.

You hit the nail on the head there Mollie, It wasn't a miners lass that shut all the pits, It was a greengrocers daughter who never had a bath in front of fire on a friday night taking her turn with the rest of the family,

Nobody likes to see a mature tree chopped down, but Fig Trees do grow in this country, I can't see what all the fuss is about.

TTS if a bit of thought went into some of these relics from the past roman remains/fig tree then Wigan would have a rich history. Could it not have been moved to another site and could some of the roman remains left on display instead of just recording them then burying them under tarmac or concrete

TT, it's very rare in Britain to find a huge Fig specimen that would compete with the one that grew in Wigan Town centre. For horticulturists it was very exciting.

Thank the Clown Council.

This was before the advent of social media mania so most people won't have known about it. I regularly wrote potential articles for local and national papers/ magazines back then but the fig sadly didn't interest the press.
These days such a finding would have at least gone locally viral... if not nationally viral. But it's gone now and forgotten... apart from me now informing people on here. It's also sad that we lost some huge and sometimes spectacular Elm trees. However, that was due to disease in the early 70s and nothing to do with the Council. Millions of these elms were lost nationwide.

JR

I remember the Dutch Elm disease in the 1970s and I remember some of the tree's on Wigan Lane had to be chopped down, and I remember the Casino being demolished after the fire, and I remember the waste ground which was the site afterwards, but I cannot remember there being a tree there, the prefabs appeared in 1987 and were the temporary Morrissons store, whilst the store in the Galleries was being built, and I would regularly be racing up and down Stairgate, between Millgate and Station Road, either on me motorbike or in the car, but like you say if the local media were not interested in it, then no one would have known anything about it, there was just the Post & Chronicle, and the Wigan Observer, the Wigan Reporter never really reported anything, but for me the 1980s were awful

TT
Thanks for yhe interesting narrative. I guess the description of a tree may be a bit confusing as figs don't resemble for instance an oak or birch, etc. A fig craves shelter and some adequate heat. Accordingly this fig tree sprawled itself along a retaining wall. It had a huge main trunk at the base and several huge branches hugging the wall.
Oh, and yes... I had a motorbike too and often missed anything of interest. As you will appreciate, take your eyes off the Road on a motorcycle and it could end in disaster... I had a few scares!

I have a mature Fig tree. It's not sheltered.

Here it is, and it's full of Figs this year!

Yes, but is it in Spain Tonker? The one in Wigan was reletively ancient and had a lower trunk of around 45cm (18 inch) diameter. But nice you have figs on yours, they struggle here unless given ideal conditions. Did you know the roots can be quite intrusive and probably has one of the most far traveling root systemsof all trees. Fig roots in Mexico were found deep down in caves!

Yes, JR, it’s in Spain. The other day my wife picked a couple which were turning purple and I ate them. There’s a first time for everything.
Needless to say, they tasted nothing like the fig biscuits I get from Aldi’s!

Ha ha, must be processed with sugar and other additives, but I agree... fig biscuits are rather delightful.

Nice pic Tonker. Yeah raw figs are not like dried processed... but I love them fresh. Still love fig biscuits though... they challenge for jaffa cakes!