Photo-a-Day (Monday, 4th March, 2024)
A Thorn between Two Roses
I just wish this building now part of ‘Spoon’s’ was back to how it was when it was Dunn’s men’s outfitters with those beautiful windows each with a stained glass panels above depicting the Coats of Arms of many towns and cities including Wigan.
Photo: Colin Traynor (iPhone)
King Charles would have said the grey blocks were a carbuncle - it’s an abomination
to squeeze those grey
blocks between the other buildings. It doesn’t even blend in. Whoever the ‘Architects’ were they should be ashamed. I can’t remember how it used to be but I do remember Dunns. There must be a ‘before’ photo. Then to call it ‘Moon Under Water’! It’s more like ‘Lunacy Above Ground’…what a pity the facade couldn’t have been retained. ‘Done’ on the cheap.
Wigan Planning Department hasn't a clue.
What can you expect from what is virtually & one party council....and they get voted in everytime....wake up Wigan.
Just looked for an older photo and Dunn’s shop had the that facade!
I remember Dunn's. You don't see many men's outfitters these days. There was one in Skipton until last year and it was like stepping back in time. There was an elderly man with a tape measure round his neck, (reminiscent of Grace Brothers!), and an old-fashioned counter with wood-and-glass drawers. I'm glad I saw it before it closed. There is still an expensive one in Ilkley but they do hiring of tail-coats, kilts etc. for weddings, that people hire because they will probably only wear them once; hopefully that will keep the business going . I remember when Wetherspoons was Broadmead's Electrical Shop and there was a rail outside where the bus drivers used to congregate whilst waiting to take their buses out, sometimes in their Summer uniform of a short cream jacket and a white cap, (some buses used to depart from near to where Galloways is now), and there was a policeman on point duty just about where Colin must be standing with his camera. Like Colin, I wish it was still as it was.
The Moon Under Water is so-called because of its connection with. George Orwell who wrote an essay called The Moon Under Water in a newspaper in the 1940s. Veronica. In the 1930s had been to Wigan to write "The Road To Wigan Pier" after studying what life was like here ....nosey parker!
Beautiful building to the far right, it really stands out from the rest.
I wonder if there are any photo's around of the Dunn & Co shop? I also wonder what happened to those Coat of Arms stained glass panels. Wherever I went in the country and passed a Dunn's store I would always look to see the Wigan Coat of Arms and felt quite proud.
Coops used to make many of their garments.
Looking further down the picture, around 1900 Max Spielmann's was Wallace's Boot Shop, Galloways was J.M Hall with the Kings Head Inn above accessed from Coopers Row and Ladbrooks was Craddock's
There is a photo of Dunn’s shop Colin, it’s under the grey concrete facade. Which I was surprised about.
That’s our meeting place at least once a year Colin for our Christmas do,I recall a elderly less able lady struggling to pick three glasses up at the bar so I did the honours and carried them to her table in another room and was thanked but no need, I also remember the police man in a white coat directing traffic .
After Broadmeads,it became Halifax Building Society,can remember going for an interview there in 1980.
A wet day Colin, and the grey building blending in with the sky, I can't make out what the man walking past those planters has on his head, but it looks to be one of those scarfs or head-squares that Arabs wear.
I can remember Dunn & Co being there, but can't recall if the shop was actually demolished or if it was just the frontage that was changed.
The Moon under Water is a pub that I've never set foot into, though with reading some comments posted about it here on the different boards, I haven't missed very much at all, not that I want to go in.
I haven’t been to Wigan for years, I’ll assume that Wigan Borough allowed the place to expand onto the pavement!
I have been in Wallgate and Market Place this morning, and they were both full of rough uns, ignorant scruffy blighters, but those grey/black blocks, at the junction of Market Place and Wallgate, are actually anti-terrorist street furniture, so that if a terrorist was to drive at speed up Wallgate, and then continue into Market Place in an attempt mow down and kill and maim pedestrians, those blocks would stop such a thing from happening.
The grey building started out in the late 50s as a Women's clothes outlet. Dunn's were at one point on Wallgate almost opposite Ashton's tobacconist's. The reddish brown building to the left of the grey building was once a branch of Martins bank.
Britboy
They are at present expanding the pedestrianisation from Market Place along Millgate to Hewlet Street, so you won't be able to drop anyone off at the top of Millgate, you will have to turn into Hewlet Street.
Excellent photo of some historic buildings.
Well said Helen!!!
I recall Dunns being around the corner in Library Street, or am I dreaming ?
I recall Dunns being around the corner in Library Street, or am I dreaming ?