Photo-a-Day  (Friday, 4th August, 2023)

That was my favorite pub, many years ago.

Albert and Mary ran the place, and Joe was their favorite customer.
I drove him home after hours.

Another pub bites the dust, lovely pub now closed, walked past there the other day and there was glass all over the pavement, smashed by vandalism.

I remember when I worked on the photo counter at Boots and loads of people came in one day to have films developed on the one-hour service as the group "Oasis" had been in The Crispin and also on The Blind Steps. Soon after that day, mobile phone photos slowly began to take over from cameras. From childhood, I recall that the streets leading from Birkett Bank up into Scholes were cobbled and extremely steep....they must have been a nightmare in icy weather. Just to the right of the Birkett Bank sign, going towards Rose Bridge, stood "Johnny Tomorrow's" Chemists.....his chemists shop appeared to be utter chaos and he never had enough tablets to fill your prescription, hence his "Come back tomorrow"regular quote, but he was a lovely gentleman who knew where everything was amongst the chaos! A lovely photo which has brought many memories, Dennis.

My mother always said that it was a nice looking pub but she'd never been in.When she died i picked her ashes up from the undertakers i put them in a carrier bag and took them up there.I got myself a pint and sat down talking to her ashes.I got some funny looks but she got to go to somewhere she hadn't been before.

It looks like the trees need cutting back they look very overgrown, they soon take over. I pass here sometimes when I get off the bus to go to Sunshine House or St Pat’s. The pub used to be surrounded with houses and shops now it’s surrounded with trees! A bustling community vanished.

Jack tomorrow was the chemist owner Irene and not Johnny.

Jack come back tomorrow, the chemist was full of clutter.

That's a name to cunger with....Jack Tomorrow the Chemist at Birkett Bank.
Sad to know another Wigan pub closed.

I’m sure she was with you in spirit Frank. I wouldn’t be surprised at many ‘spirits’ in that pub. Not including the ones on the shelves behind the bar. ;0))

I know he was called Jack Tomorrow, Alan; in fact my Mam always called him that and my Dad always called him "Come-again-tomorrow-Jack", but I have also heard him called "Johnny Tomorrow", so there were obviously variations on his name around the areas of Ince and Scholes, and people viewing today's photo could have known him by any of them. After I'd pressed "submit" I realised too late that I should have put the other names on too...... ( I'm always doing that, daft so-and-so that I am!), but thanks for pointing that out.
Frank, that was a lovely thing you did for your Mother, and so what if people in the pub thought it was odd? You did it for her, not them.

These pubs that are closed should all be turned into health care hubs by the Government to take some of the pressure off the NHS . I can't see anybody objecting to something that people need . It will probably be left standing and left for vandals to smash up or set fire to or sold to a developer looking for a quick, in and out, kill.

I did the same thing for my mother Frank. I took her by car to all the places that had figured largely in her life. I took her round New Springs and St John’s School where she was born and went to school, I took her to where the Alexandra Pit used to be in Whelley (she started work on the pit brow there), I took her around Scot Lane, Aspull where she brought me and my brothers up in the 1950s. We went to Haigh Church where she used to go for some quiet time to herself after my brother died.
I took her to Toddington where she took us kids on sunny days so she could read her library book (she was a great reader) and we kids could run riot in the fields with no danger from traffic.
Most importantly I took her to Rivington and the moors. She had been taken there on day trips from St John’s School and she loved the place. She loved the little villages, Rivington itself, Belmont and the Blue Lagoon, Lymbrick and White Coppice, but most of all she loved the wild, open moorland. I took her over there many times when she was alive and she never tired of it.
It was a very emotional trip for me, but I’m glad I did it and, after reading frank’s comment I’m glad that I’m not the only one to do something like this.

DTease, that was a lovely and very moving thing to do for your Mother, and who is to say she didn't know that she was being taken around those places? Whenever I watch Compo's funeral on Last of The Summer Wine, (the actor who played him having only just died), and "Cleggy" says, "What about another journey through the hills, old lad?", I feel choked up, even though I've seen it countless times. You did your Mother proud, DTease.

Me and my family, whats left of them, had Middleton and Woods take them to Ince crematorium, and then just left the ashes with the council to be scattered in a place unknown to us.

Defo jack tomorrow

Were you on a Bus when you took the photo Dennis, or did you go on the top floor of Grant's Emporium in the old Bulldog forge offices?
Wherever it's a good clear photo.

I was told the locals who use it had no idea that it was to close and accordingly the landlord didn't either until a few days before. It was always a very busy pub, but apparently the owners can get a lot more from renting it as flats.

DTease You could be talking about my childhood and youth. I was born in New Springs and went to St Johns. Also all the places your Mum went to as well. Brought up in Aspull from the age of nine. Sounds like your Mum had a good life. It would have been hard as a pit brow lass, which is what my Grandma did.

I agree with Irene, that was a very moving story DTease, about your mum. Its.so brought back so many memories for me. We spent a lifetime from courting young, to being married with children, up Rivington, and went to all the places you took your mum. Also the photo too Dennis, we went to The Crispin, after we had been to see the vicar, the night before we got married. Such lovely memories.

It’s a shame the way St John’s School has been left to rot like it as Kath H. It could have been turned into a real asset with a little imagination.

Need has always , a must to expel ,
emotion can hide , but just has to tell,
we fear of our telling,
what others might say ,
but those who fear not .. have the rest of the day ..

Yes DTease. It is so sad about St Johns. There is a lovely view of the fields and a brook to the back. It brings back memories every time I drive past, which is often. I remember the sliding portions which divided the classrooms. Also Horace Yates the headteacher, standing on a chair at assembly, because he was so short.