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Photo-a-Day Archive
Photo-a-Day Archive

Photo-a-Day  (Monday, 2nd August, 2021)

Gas Showrooms


Gas Showrooms
I still refer to this building as the 'Gas Showrooms' . I remember all the coaches lined up on the Market Square across the road at the start of Wigan wakes weeks.

Photo: Dennis Seddon  (Sony DSC-WX500)
Views: 2,283

Comment by: Cyril on 2nd August 2021 at 01:08

Thankfully Wigan & Leigh College got the go ahead to take over the running of this building, and I'm sure they shall make it a success by combining it within the college campus as a training centre for future NHS health workers this September. See page 3 of the College Times. Link below:
https://www.wigan-leigh.ac.uk/application/files/4216/1795/7122/College_Times_Spring_2021_website.pdf

Dennis, I do know a lot of folks still call it The Gas Showrooms even though I'd imagine it being nearly thirty years since it was, but who remembers it being The Civic Buildings before the showrooms, now it has gone back to being The Rushton Buildings. 121 years and standing strong (hopefully the council will keep their mitts of it) and shall still be standing strong when the Tin Shed that's behind has long rusted away.

Comment by: Mick on 2nd August 2021 at 07:06

Some old fashioned Wiganers stuck in the past will probably call this building Rushtons

Comment by: Helen of Troy on 2nd August 2021 at 07:27

Being ' small minded ' this stylish red brick building is very Wigan to me.........

Thats the clock of Wigan Grammar showing on the background & didn't Pendelburys move into this building for a while after the store caught fire in Standishgate ?
Good pic Dennis.

Comment by: PeterP on 2nd August 2021 at 07:58

Better shot to prove the bus stop is nowhere near the junction.An old building spoiled by the new section greenhouse would have thought they could have blended it to the brick work

Comment by: Veronica on 2nd August 2021 at 08:07

121 years and still standing and no sign of decay. It's safe to say the Lego buildings won't last that long. The coaches pick up further down the road these days at the side of the Linacre building grounds.

Comment by: joe bloggs on 2nd August 2021 at 08:42

lovely building in terracotta brick like many other valued Wigan buildings, it will soon be facing a huge block of flats if the clowncil get their way.

Comment by: Pat McC on 2nd August 2021 at 08:46

....and whilst we're at it Mick, what about those old fashioned Athenians stuck in the past - still calling those ruins the Parthenon and Acropolis! Perhaps they should stick something like 'Albert's' on the side of them and forget all the thousands of years' history.
Old fashioned or not, we can't forget the past, even if we wanted to, which most people don't.
A beautiful building showing the proud heritage of Wigan. Thanks Dennis for this photograph.

Comment by: irene roberts on 2nd August 2021 at 08:57

Being one of Mick's "old fashioned Wiganers stuck in the past" I think this is a lovely building but I have never thought of it as Rushton's. It will always be The Gas Showrooms to me as it will to thousands of Wiganers who waited there for coaches to take them on holiday or just a night out in another town.

Comment by: Mick on 2nd August 2021 at 09:10

The photo still shows the bus stop is close to the junction.
Parthenon and Acropolis haven't been taken over so they dont need a name change.
The clock is always wrong, try walking in Wigan park and you can go back in time, depending on which way your walking.
Plenty of decay, a leaky roof and draughty windows.

Comment by: WN1 Standisher on 2nd August 2021 at 09:46

Brilliant picture Dennis, Gas Showrooms it is.

Comment by: Roy on 2nd August 2021 at 10:34

Helen of Troy, i'm surprised Mick hasn't pulled you up about being 'old fashioned', lol.
That isn't the Wigan Grammar School clock anymore, it's the Thomas Linacre Outpatient Centre clock !!!
But, to the majority of Wigan folk it always will retain its original name.

Comment by: DTease on 2nd August 2021 at 11:08

“There’s decay everywhere
The roofs leaking
There’s a drought through the window
The clock’s wrong in the Park
And the bl—dy bus stop is in the wrong place.
I should have stayed in Shangri-La Shevington.
Sometimes it’s just not worth getting out of bed!”
Signed. Your ever happy commentator
Mick.

Comment by: DerekB on 2nd August 2021 at 11:11

Helen of Troy, It was occupied by Pendlebury's between their Standishgate store burning down in 1953 and the rebuilt one (Now Wilko) opening in 1957.

Comment by: Veronica on 2nd August 2021 at 13:04

As I've said before Mick would you and the parish council up in Shangri- La like the Lego buildings in your neck of the woods? Think not if it is so wonderful to live there.
Looking out of your bedroom window and all of a sudden a Lego building thrown up blotting your magnificent view. I would say the parish council old be up in arms and electing a new patroller at the gates.

Comment by: Bradshaws Girl on 2nd August 2021 at 13:22

Cyril, I remember the Civic Buildings. I worked for Wigan School Meals Service and our office was in this building. During school holidays all school meals employees had to go there to collect their wages (retainers). This was of course before the days of having your wages paid directly into the bank.

Comment by: Cyril on 2nd August 2021 at 16:18

Bradshaws Girl, that's how I remember it being the Civic Buildings as I went along to there with my friend and his mother, she went in to see someone about his father who was a school meals van driver at the time, it may well have been during the holidays too.

PeterP, you're right about the greenhouse not blending in, they demolished a very nice contrasting building so they could put that on the end, there's a photo of the building on the Album, link below, wonder if there was residences above the shops, I remember one being a ladies hairdressers and the other an insurance brokers and a driving school.
https://www.wiganworld.co.uk/streets/street.php?az=n&street=2539

Comment by: Elizabeth on 2nd August 2021 at 16:41

A lovely red-bricked building,I always call it the Gas showrooms, but my Mum always called it Rushton's.

Comment by: Edna on 2nd August 2021 at 21:31

Good photo Dennis, they don't build them like this anymore. By the way everyone, what's wrong with being old fashiond??

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