Photo-a-Day  (Tuesday, 1st June, 2021)

Good shop that Dennis, them guys can do anything with leather, from shoes, clogs,belts, laces, and dog leads, I've even had stuff re-studded there with excellent results, got to be best store in Wigan since Robinson's, thanks for sharing.

This must be the bottom end of the top end..looks like the building has been added on at the bottom end as an afterthought. ;-)

is that not free advertising bet other shops would love that

I love Rickard's. It is like walking into an old-fashioned clogger's shop from childhood days and the man is very knowledgeable and helpful and does a first-class job. I remember when I was helping with props at Wigan Little Theatre and Rickards gave me their leather off-cuts to adorn the clogger's shop workbench in "Hobson's Choice". The shop could almost be a film-set itself. Long may it reign.

Ha but, Veronica it depends which end you are starting from. If you are starting from the Market Street end then this end would be the bottom end of the top end. Whereas if you are starting from the New Market Street end then this end would be be the top end of the bottom end, but does it really matter, in the end which end it is?
My heads hurting now.

Ive just typed in Hallgate Wigan into Gooogle and it shows a photo similar photo to this one, but on theres you can spin around and see what Hallgate looks like looking the other way.
You can even zoom in and almost see what the shops are selling.

Whenever I got a new pair of shoes I took them there to go on the last ( I have bunions) and they did a brilliant job,but the last time I took a pair they didn't have the last and the gent said that they had a spray to apply and keep using a tablespoon to stretch the leather..but it wasn't the same as the last.
Irene when Wigan Little Theatre was a cinema years ago,my Dad was the projectionist and that's where he met my Mam,he was nineteen and she was sixteen,she'd gone to take him his sandwiches which his Aunt had made for him,she lived just across the way...only for WLT I wouldn't be typing this.

Best shoe repairers around. I need a lift on my left shoe to help my balance. As soon as I get new shoes I take them here and they raise my left shoe about an inch. Been going here for years. I do not know what I will do if he ever closes. My wife knew his dad who started here as Bert Smiths. They were the first people in Wigan to do while you wait shoe repairs.

https://www.facebook.com/wiganshoerepairs

Ah! But at the end of the day Dtease we are all facing the end. I just hope at my end its the end of the beginning and not the beginning of the end.... Perhaps we'll all reach Shangri la in the end just like someone we all know..!

I remember Bert Smith's very well I was a good customer with my stilettos every fortnight or so... I was heavy on my feet even though I was only 8 st. Wet through, I seem to remember they were 4s 6d to have the screws in my heels! Oh! Happy days, I wouldn't be able to get my big toe in those shoes nowadays.

I recall a time when every household in our street had a last Maureen, apart from the last house at the end of the street that is . We had a few lasts, and the last people who lived in the last house would often borrow one of our lasts. This situation was destined not to last indefinitely of course and the last time that I clapped eyes on a last would have been last week actually, when at last I laid the last of my lasts to rest in Calderbank's scrapyard, the last one on the left as you go down Miry lane. Last rites for the last were read to accompanying music by James Last, one of the last of the great musicians. Have you noticed that shoes don't last as long these days as they used to last ?

Hello Ozy,my Grandad had a last and I remember him putting soles on our shoes,in fact I can still see him carving the leather ready to put on them..I'm wondering now where he got his leather from,would it have been from Malleys in Wallgate,I suppose I'll never know..and yes James Last was a great musician,we went to see him years ago...what was the name he was known by,was it Hanza?and I believe as you say shoes don't last as long nowadays,things never stay the same do they.

I sent a comment on this photo, this morning.But its not appeared..Just to say the men in this shop are true gentlemen, and are really helpful.Also I like your story Maureen about WLT.

Thank you very much Edna,re sending a reply,when you put the verification code in..click on the side of it because sometimes it puts its own letters in,if it stays the same as you've typed that will be fine,

Hello Ozy,his Christian name was really Hans Last so he was known as Hansi..not Hanza like I originally stated..I tooted on Google lol.

Maureen, I remember him well, didn’t he write that classic hit “Hansi, kneesi and bumps-a-daisy”?

That song
" At last my love has come along,
My lonely days are over
And life is like a song"
Just right for you mam and dad Maureen. Glenn Miller !
See what you've started Ozy.

Thank you Maureen, Ozy's comment about Last this and last that made me laugh, yes I liked James Last as well.

Hello Ozy,his Christian name was really Hans Last so he was known as Hansi..not Hanza like I originally stated..I tooted on Google lol.

I realise this comment's a tad bit late, as I would imagine that everyone will have moved on by now, but you can always rely on good old Dtease for a laugh. I wouldn't mind an hour or two in the Moorgate with yon youth.
And I wonder what happened to our old mate GW ?...And I also wonder when Maureen's going to get a new iPad ?

Ozy, if Maureen ordered a new iPad she would probably end up with two being delivered and her old one disappearing into the mists and fog of the worldwide interweb!

Maureen might buy one get one free! I say Buy one get one free ! But that would mean double hiccups!

Ozy have you or anyone else any idea why it repeats like it does,if ever I have a little win this one will be gone.
D'Tease..your name suits you ..a tease lol.

You can’t get rid of that iPad, Maureen. It faithfully repeats everything you tell it. It would be like having your pet Polly Parrot put down. That would be a sad end for something that as given us so much pleasure over the years.

Night night and God bless all.xxx