Photo-a-Day  (Tuesday, 30th July, 2024)

Yes maybe you could send the shop details to Betty's in Harrogate maybe they would be interested in bringing it back.

I took a photo of the tiled doorway when on a visit to Wigan years ago, good to see its still there.
I know it will make me seem as old as the hills but I remember going to the Tea & Coffee Importers with my Grandfather, the aroma of the toasting beans is still with me also the blue paper bags of sugar on the shelves, wooden floor, chairs to sit on while you waited & the brass scales. A good memory to have.

It would be lovely to see it as a coffee shop again and to smell that wonderful remembered aroma, but would it do enough business to keep going?
Perhaps it would if it were a little cafe as well as a shop. There was one in the Royal Arcade at one time called Peaberrys.

Jackie, brilliant idea with a bit of class. It would do well with the new Hilton Hotel on Woodcock Street and the new Market Hall next door.
Those curved glass windows must have cost a small fortune in those days.

At least the Arcade is still here. The shop looks very smart. I love the old arcades with all the history underfoot.

Jackie - good idea.
Will need footfall and reasonable parking.
It would need little advertisement - the name would draw people in.

The used to have giant Easter eggs in the window at Easter time or is that a false memory?

Didn’t Thorntons have the shop for quite a while with their luxury chocolate eggs.?
Like Irene I remember the smell of coffee that might be why I am addicted to coffee today.

Michael, that was when it was Thornton Chocolate Cabin.

Two cafes already one run by a Vietnamese woman which is excellent, and the one at the end that caters for Wigan invalid scooter riders and vaping brigade.

Yes it was Thorntons for sometime, hence the Easter eggs in the window

Tom, I think you are thinking of the Royal Arcade with BAP at the Standishgate end.

Higham’s Florist and Dewhurst’s Butchers are I remember.

My memory of Easter eggs in that window comes from my childhood which is far in advance of the shop belonging to Thorntons. We are talking early 1960s here.

I’m not saying they didn’t sell Easter Eggs but doubt it as it was as pointed out by Colin selling tea and coffee until 1974 so it does seem a bit unlikely but not out of the question.
Try Googling did Makinson’s sell Easter Eggs.

If it was in advance of Thorntons surely it must have been after Thorntons?

The blends of teas from Makinson's was also excellent as was their coffee blends. I too remember the coffee shop in the Royal Arcade Irene, we would call there when Makinson's closed and also the Cheese Kabin at the top of Royal Arcade and Marsden Street, when you think back to all those magnificent shops and we didn't then realise just how lucky we actually were, and it wasn't through lack of custom that they closed, they just couldn't keep up with the shop rents and council business taxes that were forever increasing.

A big thank you to Ron too, though I'm not a member on there I do on occasions read the comments, and I was surprised that he who's just been booted off the Communicate Boards lasted as long as he did - as he was thinking that he ruled the roost. Well done Ron.

Who has been booted off communications board I wonder? I don' t suppose anyone is allowed to say on here. Just curious.

Irene, stardelta who's used numerous user names and who was one of those that spoiled the communicate boards with nitpicking and the making of derisory and negative remarks to others, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if he is on here with the same derisory and negative comments too.

I have to disagree with you there Cyril .

I’d like to make it clear that I don’t necessarily always agree with Stardelta’s views … in fact , I find many of his posts , particularly on the topic of immigration for example , to be tediously inflexible at times , but the bloke ,
( at least I assume it’s a bloke ) , comes across to me as being both intelligent and articulate. Both virtues combined being a relatively rare combination on this site.

But where’s the benefit from banning him from the site ? … it’s censorship … nothing less .
We constantly bleat on about censorship in North Korea and various other left wing or communist countries , yet choose to bar a bloke from speaking his mind on a bloody tinpot Wiggin social media site for Christ's sake .

… Jesus wept ….can you see the irony here Ron ?

It’s blatant censorship ,
nothing more nor less .

I suppose this post may also be subject to censorship … time will tell .

Regards . Ozy .

After Makinsons it became discount daisies shoe shop followed by Mark Williams, I think?

Michael, I'm sure that Makinson's at one time did have large urn like containers in the windows, and if I'm remembering correctly they were a Oriental style, painted red and black and maybe had gold on them too, and possibly advertising tea, if that helps with your memory.
Someone else may also remember them and with more detail.

I very rarely go on the
Communication Boards but I found that person the most obnoxious poster on there. The way he ruined one person in particular with his derisory name for him. He seemed to pick on him more than any other just for voicing his opinion. He may be highly intelligent but he couldn’t stand the opinions of others. It does work both ways. But not with him apparently. I think it was a wise decision to ban him.

I agree with what the poster who goes by the name of ozy wrote.

I disagree with you there Ozy, Ron was fully justified in the ban, and I'm sure that Jesus too, now you've mentioned His name, would also be in agreement with the ban.

I'm surprised the fellow wasn't banned some time ago, though you know full well that he's been banned from the site many times and always creeps back under another name, but always soon reverts back to his usual degrading, obnoxious, egoistic comments.
I was no angel when a member on there, though I did try to behave and treat fellow posters how I'd like to be treated myself.

You are right Veronica, the Communicate boards was at one time a superb place to comment, with a lot of great posters who you could have some banter with or ask advice, but with the start of the backbiting comments and vile posts folks began leaving, hopefully it will begin to improve.