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Photos of Wigan
Photos of Wigan



Photo-a-Day Archive
Photo-a-Day Archive

Photo-a-Day  (Sunday, 29th September, 2024)

A Warm Welcome Awaits You


A Warm Welcome Awaits You
The inviting tiled Entrance Lobby to The Silverwell Hotel Darlington Street East which opened its doors 18th October 1879. The first Landlord was Joseph Ashcroft who came from The Bold Hotel, Standishgate
Perhaps because the only photographs we see from those times are in a faded shade of sepia many think of that era as being drab and colourless.
Personally I don't believe the Victorians weren't quite as somber as many people think, this floor looks warm, inviting and colourful.

Photo: Colin Traynor  (iPhone)
Views: 1,712

Comment by: PeterP on 29th September 2024 at 05:56

I have read that this pub was fully refurbished last year.The walls look chipped maybe by prams/buggies by families using the beer garden?

Comment by: John (Westhoughton) on 29th September 2024 at 06:33

Right get your coats on we will give it try cheers Colin.

Comment by: Helen of Troy on 29th September 2024 at 07:41

That looks warm & as you say Colin...inviting. Also who ever was responsible for the paint colours chosen, is to be applauded.
This is the sort of thing that visitors to towns look for....but what does the outside look like, as inviting ?

Comment by: Colin Traynor on 29th September 2024 at 08:21

Apologies for the contradictory oxymoron in the last sentence!
These things do grate on my senses.

Comment by: ex wiganer on 29th September 2024 at 08:49

How wonderful just an old traditional pub just like they should be there is not so many off them left they have closed or turned into something else. I hope it can keep its look for many years to come. We have not got a lot of things left this country.

Comment by: Veronica on 29th September 2024 at 08:50

Those tiles look as if they were laid yesterday.
I wonder if they’ve been covered up ..I think I have only been in there no more than a dozen times. I don’t remember seeing them really.

Comment by: Colin Traynor on 29th September 2024 at 09:18

My choice of title for this photo just seemed to come naturally, then I have just zoomed in on that sign above the table at the far end!

Comment by: WN6 on 29th September 2024 at 09:30

Tidied up and painted many times over the years but it does look like a time capsule from the Victorian period.
It reminds me of some of those quaint pubs down the side streets in central London where it would probably cost £20 a pint.

Comment by: Mrs Mop on 29th September 2024 at 09:58

Perfect floor for a Flash advert.

Comment by: Irene Roberts on 29th September 2024 at 11:16

It looks Victorian/Edwardian and very warm and welcoming, and I must admit that my aspidistra and my "Players Navy Cut" pub mirror wouldn't look out of place in there!

Comment by: Joyce Rowbottom on 29th September 2024 at 14:17

Those pub stools are very well made and last forever, I'm sitting on one now as I type that came from my husband's local when it was shutting down.

Comment by: Colin Traynor on 29th September 2024 at 15:58

Just sat in a restaurant in Southport and notice that my comment this morning seems to not to have appeared, so will try again.
Helen, there was a photograph of the outside on PAD, I think this was 25th February or there about.
PeterP I am sure I commented in February that it was due to be refurbished this year, if this happened I hope they did not change the character of the place, it looked fine to me.
John (W) name a date and time, I bet Irene and Veronica have their coats on and sat at a table before we get there.
I’ll pick up some pies on the-way.
PS most trains seem to be cancelled today, shocking. I think the drivers have pocketed their big pay rise and given us commuters a rude hand sign and flown off to Benidorm.

Comment by: Carolaen on 29th September 2024 at 17:29

Colin. The Victorians generally (it was a long era) loved colour and decoration often extravagantly so especially in the Strawberry Hill Gothic revival style- Think St Pancras station, the Houses of Parliament etc. Indeed many of the Victorian arbiters of style eg John Ruskin absolutely hated the previous Georgian era architecture (which is now much loved) precisely because in their view it was far too plain and unornamented.

Comment by: Carolaen on 29th September 2024 at 17:31

Irene I grew up about 100 yards away and in those days Players Navy cut were well in evidence not just the mirrors.

Comment by: Irene Roberts on 29th September 2024 at 17:58

Carolaen, that's very true! I also have a 1959 calendar made out of Players Navy Cut cigarette packets and a little box made from 1950s Christmas Cards sewn together with silk thread. It seemed popular in the 1950s to make things like that; I remember having a little musical box made out of a tobacco tin which a mate of my Dad's made for me, and I also recall little paper dogs very cleverly made from cigarette packets.

Comment by: John(Westhoughton) on 29th September 2024 at 19:18

Colin you couldn’t possibly have been to the Sapori Italian restaurant on Lord Street Southport today could you as we dined there a couple of weeks back?

Comment by: Maureen on 30th September 2024 at 09:12

John,it used to be our favourite as well.

Comment by: John (Westhoughton) on 30th September 2024 at 11:52

Maureen isn’t it good there and a decent bottle of house red for £18.50 you cannot grumble at that price.

Comment by: Colin Traynor on 30th September 2024 at 13:57

It was last year in June when we went there with in-laws from Cambridgeshire, lovely meal and staff. It was a warm sunny day so we had drinks outside Casablanca next door and I could not resist taking photo of the Humpty Go Cart mural on the wall.
I will send you a copy. Maureen I don’t think I have your email address, only Irene and Veronica’s.

Comment by: Maureen on 30th September 2024 at 16:20

Colin,it’s … cliff560@gmail.com.

Comment by: Maureen on 30th September 2024 at 18:34

John,it’s the fish and chips that drew moi..I just love Southport itself,always have done..did you know Bonaparte once stayed next to Lord street,there is a plaque on a wall that’s near
Lord street,he also loved the the set out of the street so had the idea of the whole of Paris boulevard fashioned on Lord Street.…one of my grandparents lived in Southport…I would love to live there myself.

Comment by: John (westhoughton) on 30th September 2024 at 21:58

Maureen I’ve just been reading about Napoleon who lived in Southport quite interesting 1838 Napoleon 111…….Napoleon Bonaparte who married Josephine died in 1821 but must be related.

Comment by: Maureen on 1st October 2024 at 06:06

John,I corrected myself but it seems to have gone walkies..it was Napoleons nephew that lived there for a while..

Comment by: John(Westhoughton) on 1st October 2024 at 21:47

Maureen no problem.

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