Photo-a-Day (Thursday, 29th February, 2024)
Rothwell's Grocers
Thought to have been built in 1827 with its mock Tudor frontage gained between 1900 and 1920. It has a rich history of occupancy.
The Rothwell family had their own brand of chocolate with factories in Wigan and Golborne.
They moved to these premises in 1851 from King Street.
Photo: Colin Traynor (iPhone)
Great photo Colin your clued up with Wigans history
does anyone remember who sang Tiger Feet?
This photo shows it can be done, an older building still in use. Very neat & stylish. Whoever owns or manages this should be congratulated.
Thanks for the history to go with it Colin.
I like the mock Tudor style it’s very distinctive.
It reminds me of Chester. Wigan casually got rid of a lot over the years. Being nearly 200 years old I wonder what the condition underneath is like.
It does look well maintained and welcoming. I think it blends in very well with brick buildings but not so much with the Lego type.
John, I think it was Mud.
Yes,it was Mud
John, just googled Tiger Feet by Mud. A 1974 video came up, really brilliant and didn’t have us back. Please watch.
Lovely building and thankfully situated away from the demolition site that is now our town. There used to be a Rothwell's Grocers shop in Spring View in the 1960s before they flattened Spring View as well! I wonder if it was the same family?
What a beautiful well looked after building, so clean and tidy.
Tudor style are one of my favourites.
Thanks Colin.
Nice building, this is opposite the old GPO I think and the side in Rowbottom Square. Not too sure, but are the windows smashed in the top room.
Looks well kept.
Hi John, It was MUD sang Tiger Feet.
Saw them sing this live early 70's at a concert at RAF Spitalgate, nr Grantham when it was closing as a WRAF training centre. Happy Days
In response to your reply Colin,Julie and Brendell
That’s right,That’s,That’s right That’s tight.
Arthur, I don’t think that they are smashed, it’s just the way the light catches them and reflecting off the buildings opposite.
Sorry about that and I think Brian changed the last right to tight but probably quite appropriate ,off out trying my new £30 bike probably do same run as Saturday through Standish then Parbold and back to Wigan along canal with a big smiley face.
Don't look to bad from the front if you like mock tudor, but it's very run down at the side and the rear.
Wigan Mick, thanks for the feedback. Tudor or Mock Tudor might be a matter of taste but I can think of quite a few post 1960’s buildings in Wigan that should be either demolished or would benefit from such a cosmetic facelift at least making them more pleasing to the eye. Just my opinion.
I would go to this shop when it was an Optician, then it was Glucksman, and for a long time before it had been Caffin's, all the instruments and other eye testing equipment in the back room was ancient, they still did the intended job though.
It doesn't look at all run down at the side Mick, and you can't see the rear because it is built onto what is known as Meeks Building and the NHS is in there. In the 1970s there was a home brew shop The Grapevine just a little further down the alley, the man who owned it also had homebrew shops in Orrell and Pemberton, and thinking back I'm sure his name was Ron Pimblett.
Lovely clear photo Colin thank you. Does anyone know if that's a marker stone half hidden by the gentleman, or maybe where they used to tether horses?
The NHS Diabetic Eye Screening Centre, is located at 3 The Meeks Buildings, though the entrance is from Bretherton Row and not Rawbottom Square.
According to Wigan Buildings the shop was an optician from 1981, though I was sure Caffin's optician was there earlier, so it must have been next door or thereabouts.
** "A photo from 1920 shows it was still called Rothwell. In a 1950 photo it appears to be a men’s outfitters. A Photo from 1964 shows it as Weaver to Wearer and in 1981 an optician."
**This info from Wigan Buildings. - Rothwell's Grocers. Link here: https://www.wiganbuildings.co.uk/building.php?id=854
Meg, I think it’s a stone to stop vehicles, perhaps even horse drawn carriage’s or carts hitting the corner of the building.
Thank you Colin,that makes sense to me now
Meg and Colin.
The building protection stone is just that, the old Wigan Observer offices printed newspapers up there at Rowbottom Square, the stone is to protect the building from horse draw carts and vehicles whilst they delivered large and heavy newsprint rolls of paper. The papers were printed there from 1853 to 1966.
Remember, Rowbottom Square is a very small area from wall to wall.
I've got the shops mixed up, the opticians was actually three doors up from here and on looking there's a pizza shop there now, and it's on the corner of Wallgate and the alley to Barrack Square and not Rowbottom Square.
Nail on the head, Colin H.