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Photos of Wigan
Photos of Wigan



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

Photo-a-Day  (Tuesday, 20th June, 2023)

Market Street


Market Street
I always imagined that building was a lot wider than that!

Photo: Dennis Seddon  (Sony DSC-WX500)
Views: 1,761

Comment by: Maureen on 20th June 2023 at 04:24

No matter what building is put in its place,I can't imagine any structure would give us the same feeling...or am I completely wrong.

Comment by: Bob the Builder, brother. on 20th June 2023 at 06:46

I've just had a quick look in our Bobs building book and it says
that the minimum foundation depth for two storey foundations is 2000mm , to ensure they have the necessary strength to fulfill their purpose.
So this three storey building does appear the be a little high, but having said that it could also be a camera trick on ones eye.

Comment by: Helen of Troy on 20th June 2023 at 07:35

Wigan is not the only place to be given a 'makeover'.
In the 60s Kings Lynn the old quarter was demolished & a ' modern shopping mall ' took much of the space that was left. It was updated a few years ago, slighty better now than the mass of concrete it was but the difference between Lynn & Wigan was the powers in Lynn had the sense to keep its history, cobbled streets, alleyways, old buildings , narrow roads, river front etc. I believe it earns the council quite a lot of money though the film industry making use of it
WMC just seem to have lost the plot.

Comment by: Gary on 20th June 2023 at 08:05

Without the label, Dennis, I wouldn't have known where that was.

Comment by: Janet on 20th June 2023 at 08:33

'Lost the plot' about Wigan is right Helen.

Comment by: Irene Roberts on 20th June 2023 at 08:56

I never went in The Market Hotel but I have read many people's remembrances of it in Past Forward and other publications and it seemed to be a place full of character and Characters. Helen, you are absolutely right in what you say... some things could have been preserved instead of torn to pieces. Maureen, I hope, as I'm sure we all do here on p-a-d and Album, that you are feeling better. If you are still in hospital, I hope you are home soon.

Comment by: Wigan Mick on 20th June 2023 at 09:25

Helen, Kings Lynn still looks good, maybe its the people who do do for Lynn.
About 10 years ago I was down in Norfolk and stay at the Dukes Head hotel on Tuesday market, they put me in a room at the rear so I complained and was moved to the best room which was at the front and was the room that Queen Victoria used when she was a trip to Sandringham.

Comment by: Syd Smith on 20th June 2023 at 09:30

Helen, Wigan council also earn lots of money though the film industry making use of it of our rundown areas, like Bird St. in Higher Ince.

Comment by: Irene Roberts on 20th June 2023 at 09:31

Sorry, I think it was The Market Tavern, not Market Hotel. I'd better amend it after yesterday's fiasco when I innocently mistook the name of a business in Upholland.. Better get it right this time! By the way, good photos from you as always, Dennis.

Comment by: Brendell on 20th June 2023 at 10:09

I do agree with Helen as I lived my first 20 years in a wonderful historic Wigan, having lived near King's Lynn (that is Norfolk by the way) since the early 80's and seen a lot of old King's Lynn saved and improved. We tend to be teaming with tourists. I find it sad to see what is happening in Wigan. Wake up Wigan Council.

Comment by: Pw on 20th June 2023 at 10:11

I had a good mooch round Wigan last week and I also never realised how narrow this building was.There are or were some quirky buildings in Wigan.

Comment by: Maureen on 20th June 2023 at 10:27

Thank you Irene,have spent my first night in my own bed ...bliss..but that isn't to forget the care that I had on Lowton ward RAEI..they're brilliant..

Comment by: Dave on 20th June 2023 at 11:02

Brendell , Wigan council won't ' wake ' up . It's what they are . It's the voters who need to wake up .

Comment by: Irene Roberts on 20th June 2023 at 11:56

Glad to hear that, Maureen.....I haven't been an in-patient but spent 12 hours in A and E plus two 4-hour sessions in the ADEC Unit in the past two weeks and I have nothing but praise for the wonderful doctors and nurses, not forgetting the welcome "tea-ladies"! It's good to be home looking at photo-a-day and joining in the comments.

Comment by: Cyril on 20th June 2023 at 15:36

A large crowd is looking in the travel shop's Bargain Holidays corner window, there must be some good last minute deals to be had, a 4 star hotel in Crete or Corfu maybe, or more likely they'll end up in a leaky caravan in Cromer.

There was a large tree growing at the side of the building so there wasn't much of the side and rear of the buildings to see. It is a very nice building when looked at from the front and sides with red brick and carved stone along Market Place with brick and stone and Tudor style cladding along Market Street, but no date that I can see. It was Jackson's the Tailors as I knew it, but became Thomas Cooks and later Hays Travel.

It think it was the Fleece Hotel that was on the side of it on Market Street which had an impressive tiled entrance, and there was also another entrance down a little alley where the bakery is on Market Place, that also had Fleece Hotel set within a mosaic tiled floor if I remember correctly.

Happy to read that you're getting better Irene and Maureen

Comment by: Maureen on 20th June 2023 at 16:23

Thank you so much Cyril.x

Comment by: Sir Bob on 20th June 2023 at 16:25

I remember the building which was at the side of the narrow building, it was originally a Grocers called 'Latimers' and as it was being readied for demolition in 1971, in preparation for the building of the 'Wigan Centre Arcade' (opened 1973) which became Marketgate, when The Galleries opened.

But in late 1971 the old Latimers building collapsed into Market Street, and maybe the reason it collapsed, was because as it was severed from the building in the picture, it became unstable, because it was too narrow, and that is why it fell down.

Comment by: Sue on 20th June 2023 at 16:40

Love it.

Comment by: tommy39 on 20th June 2023 at 17:26

cyril, it was the golden fleece,peter had it forgot his surname he had a built up shoe and caliper lovely man

Comment by: Cyril on 20th June 2023 at 17:39

Sir Bob, I can't remember shops just after the building here on Market Street, but according to this photo on the Album Latimer's was a lot lower down just after the Commercial Yard. https://www.wiganworld.co.uk/album/photo.php?opt=4&id=29536&gallery=Market+Street&page=1

Photo of top of Market Street, you can see the lamp and entrance of the Fleece Hotel.
https://www.wiganworld.co.uk/album/photo.php?opt=4&id=12440&gallery=Market+Street&page=1

This other photo is a bit clearer, also seems the multi name user causing bother was around back then too.
https://www.wiganworld.co.uk/album/photo.php?opt=4&id=12254&gallery=scholes&page=1

A photo from the Album of Market Place taken from Library Street side, you can see the two entrances to the Fleece which Ron says was set behind the shops. Also what was Jackson's and later Thomas Cook now Hays Travel seems to have been two separate shops/buildings then, hence the difference in architectures.
https://www.wiganworld.co.uk/album/photo.php?opt=5&id=31262&gallery=Market+Street%252C+Wigan&offset=0

Comment by: Edna on 20th June 2023 at 23:01

Good photo Dennis,as always.It looks different from another angle. Nice to hear your home Maureen, I didn't know you had been unwell, and hope you're soon better Irene.x

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