Places   (Help with places, streets and buildings in Wigan.)

Apart from gigs there was also the delight in buying a new album (vinyl LP) or exploring music that you may have missed.
As for record shops, there were many in Wigan but my favourites were (in order) Pemberton Record shop, Roy Hurst (in the indoor market) and the one in the basement of Debenhams (probably Pendlebury back then). At the latter I spent so much time there that people thought I worked there and asked me for advice. I bought Tubular Bells from Roy; he didn’t have it but I gave him ten bob as deposit – no receipt those days, just trust. Pem record shop had a booth to listen to what you proposed to buy (and many other shops too). What has happened to all this – we have so called progressed but we’ve left a lot of quality experiences behind.
As a young DJ I had access to promotional album posters. I wish I’d kept them all but unfortunately I only have one left which promotes a various artists album called ‘Heads and Tails’ – I would like the album but so expensive on vinyl now. When the American scene began to explode in Britain we had to go to a shop down a ginnel in Manchester centre. You could park the van on the main road in those days!
I got to point where I couldn’t play music I didn’t like. There was a lot of animosity with my fellow DJ (long term mate since infant school) and I quit. To this day he hasn’t compensated me for the equipment which he continued to use. So, John – if you are reading this, it would be nice to be rewarded. Actually, that’s a bit tongue in cheek… it gave me the opportunity to escape and fully engage with the music I really loved, and what a journey it has been!