Photo-a-Day  (Wednesday, 22nd November, 2023)

So sad.
God help our poor town!
God help our poor country!

What a beautiful building design going to waste and another pub gone in history. Not sure when it finally closed it's doors, but like many never to return. Hope it doesn't get demolished because in my opinion it deserves to be saved.

Pubs and newspapers will be a thing of the past in 20 years time.
Will live in a different world since the 1980s. Newspaper will be online and not in print, and pubs will only survive in busy towns and cities.

Such a sad state of affairs. Good looking building that has probably been neglected for years to get to that stage.
Its got more character than those new buildings on the far left.

Another great picture Brian, I have one of the rear which is equally distressing. So sad to see such a fine building going to rack and ruin.
Any chance we could met up some time in town so that you could give me some tips on how to upload my collection form my iPhone as I have no success?

Is it any wonder people ‘long for yesteryear’ …a grand building left to rot and destroyed by ne’er do wells. Every time I pass this building it’s been re-boarded up again and again because of more attempts to gain entry…if it was to gain shelter why would the windows be smashed in the upper floors? Utter destruction just for the sake of it.

Yet another eyesore.

Veronica the real point is punters are not using them. No if's and butt's. It's a fact of life.
No other reason their not being used.

It would make a lovely International Food Store, get some bright stickers on the windows to give the place a lift.

Always used to be packed to the rafters before a game. Billy Boston was the landlord for years, a great fellow!

How sad to see.. it even looks like it’s crying out for company..I have this vague memory at the back of my mind which has bugged me for a long time .. as a small child I remember a small boy whose parents ran the pub at the time that used to mix in with us youngsters.. if I haven’t dreamt it his surname was Waterworth.. does anybody remember, it’s bugged me for a long time.????

I haven't read a newspaper except The Wigan Observer for forty years and I won't be reading any "online" either. But I am saddened to see the state of that building. I have a photo on my wall of my Auntie Sally as a pit-brow lass in the fifties and I believe it was on the wall of either The Griffin or The Bowling Green Pub at one time; unfortunately I'm not sure which.

How sad to see.. it even looks like it’s crying out for company..I have this vague memory at the back of my mind which has bugged me for a long time .. as a small child I remember a small boy whose parents ran the pub at the time that used to mix in with us youngsters.. if I haven’t dreamt it his surname was Waterworth.. does anybody remember, it’s bugged me for a long time.????

Yes I know that Alan but the rougher element are causing damage to the empty building when its boarded up.(.awaiting whatever plan is afoot for it.) I have seen a group with my own eyes - in daylight trying to get inside equipped with cans and stoned out of their minds. I have also seen workmen come along again to repair the boards someone must be watching what is going there and reporting the antics..

Colin - you shouldn't have problems sending your iPhone images to P-a-D as they are sent directly to Brian's email address: (brian@wiganworld.co.uk). There's no limit to the size of image you can send.
However, there is a limit to the size you can upload directly into the Wigan Album - so they'll have to be reduced in resolution to get through. Also, as you have to drag-and-drop images into the upload page on the site, I'm not sure that can be done on an iPhone, as you need to have two pages open at once - the WW site, and the source for the image. It may be that you need an iPad or computer to do that.
Others will have more knowledge/ expertise than I....

Billy the ex landlord used to run past our house when he and his mates were rugby training.
My mother used to say, they would catch the train to Parbold and then run back along the canal past my house, I remember her saying you could see a sweaty steam coming off them on cold days.

Irene I am totally in agreement with you....online this, online that. WW is 'online' I suppose but we have a choice to use it or not ( who would not want to look at WW ?? ) but being pressured into it by banks, councils, water , electricity & many other providers, government included is victimisation to a certain sections of society. I only got & learned how to use a computer in my 60's and am no expert with 'ON B LINE ' Nor will I ever be !
Rant over.

Irene ALL newspapers will be going online, that's the way it's going. Even the Wigan Observer is now online today with Wigan-today. Print runs in newspapers will definitely come to an end.
The Wigan Observer in print is only a little more than 2,500 copies a week and is costly to print. Anyway, most newspaper companies much prefer online news and so does the majority of the public. Circulation figures prove it. By the way Irene, you must agree, the Wigan Observer is not what it was back in the day.
Enjoy your reading.

Very sad to now see this once grand and always busy pub in this state of dereliction. You're correct Veronica as rough sleepers wouldn't have done this to the building, as you say it's the ne'er do wells doing the wanton vandalism, what makes them do this to vacant buildings? They wouldn't do this at home - or do they?
Also what sort of state is it in on the inside? I do hope it will get to be renovated and not end up as just an image in a photograph, just like the many other fine buildings that once where around town.

The reality is Irene, newspapers will NOT be in print in years to come. Newspaper publishers Want to present on-line news on your computers and mobile phone devices. Many do prefer the printed newspaper but also many especially the younger generation much prefer to read the news on their phone.

Thankyou Arthur and Wiganer, and yes, you are right; that's the way things are going. You are also correct in saying that The Wigan Observer isn't what it was, Arthur; I miss Geoff Shryhane's page but I like Ted Dakin's "memories" page, even though it isn't in every week. But as for the "dailies"....as I say, I haven't read one. nor watched the news on the telly, for forty years.....it's what keeps me sane! The last time I read a daily paper was when they caught the Yorkshire Ripper. I believe one of the questions asked when being tested for dementia is who the Prime Minister is.....I neither know nor care and would fail at the first fence! Lol!!

Rev Long, many thanks for your advice on the matter of uploading pictures, my technology skills with computers are somewhat limited.
I have many photographs of areas and places on my phone, some even taken today of long locked up location and kindly given access to.
Pity that these are stuck on my phone.
Brian if you are amenable to me sharing I can send them to you to upload at your discretion. my email address is: colinptraynor@icloud.com.

Well your very knowledgeable on here, Irene. The Evening Post was struggling so has gone weekly, so not too sure if that paper will last in print.

Spent a few hours in here before a match,sad to see it in such a state.Does any one remember a column in the Wigan Observer that was printed in Wigan dialect,it was called Owd Toms or something similar.I remember my dad could read it with no problems but it was just gobbledegook to me.

The Wigan Observer was a really good newspaper back in day. It had 32 broadsheet pages packed with news and advertisements. It was printed and published in Wigan by Wigan people who loved the paper. Now printed in Sheffield and has only a small handful of reporters. As you say Irene, Geoff Shryhane retired and not much to read only adverts- Since the Wigan Reporter ceased publication.
The Observer may sell more to readers in print and online if some pages from the past were to be reprinted news from the 1950s to 1980s in today's paper. As prove on Wigan World,
many love Wigan's history. Just a thought.

Maureen, are you thinking about George and Mary Waterhouse who ran the Cherry Gardens many years ago? In the sixties, I think.

Yes, I remember the dialect column, Pw....and it WAS something like "Owd Tom" or was it "Owd Scrat"? ..... "owd" somebody, anyway! There was also a children's column when I was a child called "Cousins' Corner" that changed to a more trendy-sounding name in the 1970s but then disappeared. I noticed in the obituary column not long ago, (I can't recall the name of the person), "Mrs. So-and-So of Hindley, formally of Ince....." when it should be "formerly" and I thought"What happened to to editors?"....That was their job, to correct wrong spellings and grammar.

Colin, why don't you try and get in touch with Mick, he seemed to know how to do it.

Michael thank you but no it was definitely The Griffin because I remember a gang of us used to bang on the front door and his Mum used to shout he'll not be long,and we would be stood just inside the front door...I really wish I could get it sorted,it has as I say bugged me for years.

The Wigan Observer Cousins Corner was replaced by Young Scene and Edited by Jack Winstanley.

Thankyou, Black Ink.....you have a better memory than me! My parents took The Wigan Observer all through my childhood and I have bought it throughout my married life, (50 years in January), and will continue to do so as long as it is printed.

The Waterworth (large) family, lived lower down; not sure before or after The Whitesmiths pub.

Forgot to add,Waterworths had no connection with The Griffin. During most of the 1940’s and 50’s, the Ashall family ran the pub : I think they had a daughter named Maureen.
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One of Wigan's most beautiful buildings left to rack and ruin.
The architectural style, craftsmanship and quality of materials used typical of that transitional period from 19th to 20th Century.
Its a crime to see it in such a sad state and should somehow be protected until such time as a buyer with money and vision can bring it back to life.