Photo-a-Day  (Thursday, 6th May, 2021)

Where have all the flowers gone
Long time passing.
Where have all the flowers gone
Long time ago.
Where have all the flowers gone
The girls have picked them every one.
Oh, When will you ever learn
Oh, When will you ever learn

What a sight! looks proper neglected rough and scruffy.

I could never understand why some parts of Ince were left like this when other parts were demolished. Many of these buildings are in a poor state. It was a very thriving area at one time.

That brings back my childhood. My Mam shopped every day along that row of shops. Few people had fridges then and she bought fresh veg and meat daily. There was Elsie Robinson's fruit and veg shop....she also sold a bit of fresh fish. Fruit and veg shops had an aroma that you never get around the veg stalls in supermarket.....you could be led into one blindfolded back then and know which shop you were in. There were two butchers along that stretch....Ben Turner's and Dewhursts, Entwistle's Papershop and Campbell's Chemists. In the mid-sixties, when I was in my teens, a little cafe opened at the end of the row; it was called "The Ponderosa" after the ranch in the then-popular tv series "Bonanza". It didn't last long as it was full to the brim with Ince teenagers every evening who had no money to spend! I used to catch the bus to school across the road from the shops. It breaks my heart to see it like this.

Ince, both higher and lower seems to have less money spent on it than anywhere else in Wigan for some reason. Lower Ince, all along Warrington Road has suffered chronic neglect from the Council for many years.
I’m all in favour of keeping some of the old buildings in Wigan, but these shops need either a serious renovation or complete demolition.

I remember all of that Irene,and loved growing up there.I can't understand why certain areas of Wigan are get neglected and others are invested in.

Irene, I knew that you would comment on this. Like you I got on the bus to go to HAGS across the road. This row of shops needed demolishing when I left Ince in 1963, amazes me every time that I drive past but many happy memories of Ince remain to this day.

Neglected and rough it might be the residents are the salt of the earth.

Its so sad to see it like this, it reminds me of old Scholes just before the bulldozers came in.They definitely need updating or demolishing.Everyones 60s memories are being erased.

It looked like they had started to paint the railings when I went passed yesterday.

Some of the buildings are from the mid 1800's. I remember Robinsons as I got all my wedding flowers from there, they were beautiful. I think the 3 main bouquets cost 7s 6d each. I can't remember how much the buttonholes were. They came in a long oblong box on the Saturday morning. Wonder what 7s 6d in those days would be worth nowadays. I know the cost of flowers these days are astronomical.

I seem to remember that one of these shops had a big China milk jug in the window. I cannot recall what the shop was called or what it sold but I do remember the jug.

Irene you are right about the sadness of this scene. A distant relative of mine used to run a clog shop, from just about the spot the photo was taken from. He must have been one of the last cloggers in the Wigan area when he retired in the 1960s.

Would that have been Melling's cloggers, Carolean? I remember Melling's and Barlow's. Walter Hurst, the clogger in nearby Hindley, went on for many years and was the Uncle of my friend Elizabeth who has commented above. He made some clogs for my daughter when she was 18 in 1999 and was still at the Hindley shop then.The clogs are by the side of my fireplace now.

Veteran worked at Dewhurst butchers and said the main office was upstairs at the shop in that row, comments about Dewhurst's below.
https://www.wiganworld.co.uk/communicate/mb_message.php?opt=f2&opt2=&msd=532418&offset=1240&subject=dewhurst

They demolished some grand buildings along Manchester Road also the quaint Smithy Green which reminded me of a medieval hamlet, it should have been preserved.

No flower baskets, not even a dandelion growing out of a crack in the flags

I went to Walter Hurst's cloggers in 1971 for some little red clogs for my son. He used to love everything red!
I had to wear them for school up to about 8 and I hated them. They were the ones with a strap across them. People used to say they were good for the feet, but not in my case.

There used to be 'cloggers' in nearly every street in Scholes. Usually the front room of a terraced house. I loved the smell of the cloggers with all that leather. Plus you could read comics sat on a bench waiting for repairs.

Mick last year I'm sure there was flower tubs fixed upon the tops of those railings at the lights, so they'll probably be planted with summer bedding and placed there again later this month.

There are blossoms of a Cherry tree to be seen in the distance.

Smithy Green was lovely, Cyril. The cottages were still there when they demolished our house further down Ince Green Lane in 1971 and moved us to Platt Bridge. I can see it as if it were yesterday.

Yes Cyril,Smithy Green was lovely,anywhere else and it would have had a conservation order placed on it.Thanks Irene for the mention of my uncle's Harry's clog shop,which never changed its' name from my Grandad opening it way back,as Walter Hurst,and his grandson also named Walter worked there until it closed.

Sorry, Elizabeth....I think Walter was your cousin, not your Uncle. My mistake, but I know he was a much-loved and respected gentleman.

A friend of mine and work colleague,Helen Sankey..lived on Smithy Green in a lovely little cottage type house,I thought it was a lovely area,in fact I've always liked Ince even though I've never lived there.

Irene. It was Barlows I was thinking of.

That's ok Irene, yes Walter was my cousin ,much missed.

Elizabeth, I put a photo of Walter's shop on the album #20232 , taken in 1998 on the occasion of the shops Centenary.

A friend of mine and work colleague,Helen Sankey..lived on Smithy Green in a lovely little cottage type house,I thought it was a lovely area,in fact I've always liked Ince even though I've never lived there.

My iPad has hiccups again.

Give it a splash of water Maureen that might do the trick. xx

Thanks a million Dennis.

Veronica..xx