Photo-a-Day  (Monday, 14th October, 2024)

Where have you gone ,
was I afast sleeping ,
where is the place
I once knew so well
How deep was my sleep
to lose all remember
to now walk as blind
in the place where I grew
Where have you gone
my childhood of knowing
and all my footsteps
in the place I called mine?

I think this would have been the offices of LA Pardy & Co. or Hollows & Hesketh (Chartered Accountants)

How strange to see it from this angle. I have only ever seen it from ground level when passing by on the bus at the bottom of Library Street. There was a very clear cctv picture on facebook some time ago of someone walking out without paying, asking "Does anyone know this couple?". I have often wondered if anyone came forward to name them! (Probably not....people don't want to get involved).

Franco was sponsor of the Wigan 10k trail this year and if I am not mistaken he also completed the run. Finishers got a medal in the form of a pie. Not a pizza it was a Wigan pie.

The town is not what it was, but this building has survived and it's good to see it put to good use.
Thanks Colin.

Irene, the photo was taken through the window on the landing of stairwell leading up to the Reference Library.

T.D. It’s always good to see local businesses putting a bit of money into sponsoring events, it’s a sign of goodwill and the publicity does them no harm.
All that vacant land around used for car parks could accommodate a few of those block of flats proposed for the town centre, perhaps giving us back our market square which could also be used for town centre parking and freed up for events such as the return of the biannual fair.
Speaking of which I believe the construction of the Mew Market Hall will start within weeks according to reports from the Council.

A different view..I could never understand why they demolished the Mayor’s Parlour building.
Or what we called the
“ Rates Office” on the corner.

Even with a liking for Italian cuisine I have never been to Franco's with it being where it is, though he and his crew must be producing excellent food with the number of years it has been open.
I was wondering if the original town hall had been designed by the same architect with having similar looks, but the town hall architects were Nuttal & Crook, thanks to Wigan Buildings for the descriptions:
https://www.wiganbuildings.co.uk/building.php?id=381

In the early 1990s when the town hall building was on the market for sale the Elim Church on Greenough Street was interested and offered to purchase it, however after many negotiations they were turned down each time. I wondered that probably the council just didn't want to sell the building to them.
It was never sold as you know, and was left to rot. Looking at the well maintained building of Franco's gives an idea as to how good the old town hall could have looked.

Good photo Colin could definitely be worth a visit if it’s as good as Cosa Nostra in Howfen it’ll do.

Colin, it would be good if the Market Square was to be reinstated, but will it ever happen?
Someone's said that the old town hall building may well have actually been sold to a buyer, though I can't say that I heard or read about it.
This SkyscraperCity Forum came up in a search and they're discussing Wigan, I do like the aerial photograph that is on the site. I haven't heard in years the saying 'Little Chester' referring to Wigan centre, it's mentioned in a comment by Oscar, as is this comment about Wiganers also by Oscar: "A lot of the people mostly older generation are quite inward as well. Give them game of rugby league and shove a tata pie in their gob and they're happy."
https://www.skyscrapercity.com/threads/wigan.235722/#replies