Photo-a-Day  (Friday, 15th September, 2017)

Oh yes, hoi polloi not welcome here. Apparently, one of the latter Crawfords allowed the public access up from Wigan Lane as far as the canal bridge. But if ever he was passing along the drive, the 'guests' had to face away from him!

I assume Ron means some kind of barrier to be installed. There are two metal plates at the base of the gate posts which weren't there on his August picture.

Yes Ron the place will soon be gated off to keep out the rif raf.

Thanks Ron lovely photo always brings good memories back for me in my younger days.

Mass trespass anyone?

What's this all about now?. Another of the usual draconian measures to stop the public from going where they want to go, often when it's on public land paid for by the public. I've never seen any trouble here, just the usual excuse to put these fences around the places to keep out the unwashed masses which is the majority of us.

It won't be long til idyllic places like this will be completely off limits to everyone except the filthy 1% rich and the rest of us will be crammed into tiny micro apartments in densely populated cities.

Well mick where are you going to go then?

Off with their heads!

JJ - you have the right idea

I've heard say that the hoteliers wish it to be a cycle free area, this will make their venue a lot safer for their facility paying pedestrian customers.

I'm not taking sides here, but my understanding is that this place is now meant to be a 5 star hotel. I personally have very little experience regarding 5 star hotels, or even one star hotels if it comes to that, but I would imagine there'll be very few around that allow the world and his wife to surround the place and press their noses up against the windows. Anyway, as far as I'm concerned, they can keep the hall, as with all the recent so called improvements around the area, they've buggered the place up good style anyway. Just like they did when they developed most of the waterfront areas up and down the country in the name of venture capitalism. How many times have you seen this kind of thing happen in Wigan? Did they improve the place when they built the Galleries, or the Grand Arcade?,or any of the other ' Temples to Consumerism ' in the area?, ...we may as well all go and live in Las Vegas.......If anyone asks for me, I'll be in the Anderson shelter.

The road as a;ways had a no entry sign up, it used to say no entry except for hall visitors.
Pedestrians will still be able to go to the hall via Birmingham steps

I think a dose of common sense is required here folks, a company have bought Haigh Hall with the intent of making it a profit making success. I f you would rather the incompetent fools at Wigan Council have control of the hall and let it fall into irreversible disrepair then fine but as far as I am concerned the modifications made more ten make up for the occasional restriction on hall access.

oh and still not a public right of way!

Phil T, I thought that the hotel company, Contessa Hotels , had leased the hall, not bought it.

Hi Phil T , What you say indeed holds value but as Ozy and many others often comment, modern does not mean better. It is far cheaper to build new than restore an old building . This sounds cost effective, but in reality it is not, as they are not built to last.
Old buildings mature with time as they were built with more care and attention to detail.
In modern buildings they are built to contract by developers who couldn't care less . If you want a 200 house estate , they can accommodate with glee, but build pure and genuine tack. These buildings, will decay badly, whereas old buildings get better, simply because they were built with care in the first place. I understand where you are coming from Phil , profit is good in any language , it's how these funds are used .
I would restore every possible old building I could . I would build homes within old restored buildings because I know they would not only last longer ,but those born in them would appreciate them more, and this would be passed on. The Grenfill tragedy is one clear example where profit was put before people's lives.

Julie's spot on...again!