Photo-a-Day  (Friday, 11th July, 2025)

What a terrible waste and in a dangerous condition. It’s not taken long to get in that state. I remember seeing a photo of it when the pub first closed.

It must be awful havw houing to live in this area and see this eyesore everytime you drive over the bridge.
The sooner it's knocked flat and some new houses built the better.
Good photo Brian.

I keep wondering why anyone would want to change the name of the pub from White Lion to Red Lion, was it the colour they didnt like.

The homeless moved in then it was set on fire twice.Yet another blot on the landscape.

I have a photo of myself and my son taken inside The Dover Lock in 1977. Jamie was 8 months old and dressed in red, white and blue for The Queen's Silver Jubilee. Every Summer there were colourful boats moored outside on the canal and people chatting and laughing in the beer garden. It's heartbreaking to see it in this state.

A sad end to what was a pub & meeting place, it was probably full of life in its heyday.

So sad to see it vandalised and neglected, now looking only for demolition.
I used to see it at its best in the 1970’s on my way to work in Golborne and Lowton, now I pass it on the bus to Warrington and try my best to think of it in its heyday.

Its like they mentioned on GB news last night they were talking about 1 pub a day keeps closing thankyou to this retard goverment they want every pub to shut down they dont want english people to go out they are trying to divide this country.

Mick, maybe they were Chinese who changed it to Red Lion.
The Chinese owners changed the colour of Cardiff City’s strip (The Blue Birds) from Blue to Red, Red being more Auspicious and Lucky.
The fans were furious.

I have no idea why it was changed from The White Lion to The Red Lion; I only remember it as The Red Lion. In the 1970s, someone stopped in a car on Warrington Road and asked me for directions to The Red Lion, Abram, and I told them there WASN'T a Red Lion in Abram! Just before they drove off I realised thy meant The Dover Lock......no-one in Abram ever called it anything other than than that! I managed to bang on the car window and explain, and told them that if they needed to ask again, further down the road, to ask for The Dover Lock. Shortly after, the powers-that-be changed the name to The Dover Lock and I'm sure avoided a lot of confusion.

Was a lovely pub in a lovely place, next to the canal and all that open green space. I used to be friendly with a lad called Harry Barlow, whose Dad ( also Harry ) had the licence. I was in the local scout group, and on several occasions old Harry let us use the massive garden for our Summer fayre. Like many have said, it's a real shame to see the pub like this...

A beautiful pub gone to waste, a stunning little pub with a warm feeling to it back in the day.
Great photo Brian and a different part of Wigan.

only take a couple off hours to pull it down with a J C B but wigan council wont until some one gets seriously injured

Mick Abram is a lovely place to live just like anywhere else in Wigan.
Brian great photo of a dieing trade I'm afraid. So sad to see lovely pubs wasted. Is it five pubs a week closing for ever.

It is a good photo and doubt it will be standing for much longer.
I agree that is good to see photos of localities outside of the usual areas. I have put a few up in the past around Abram and Ashton, these add a new and refreshing perspective on what Wigan and District is all about.

Abram isn’t Wigan, it’s not even near, Hindley and Ince are in between. If you want to talk about how good it was “back in the day”, then forget the modern local government area which was created in the early 1970’s. You can’t have Lancashire and Wigan metropolitan borough. They don’t go together.

A sad sight to see the once very popular canalside pubs in such a ruinous state, the Navigation at Gathurst is a wreck too.

Coming along the road from Golborne and approaching this pub and the bend to the canal bridge, there was a warning road sign indicating 'Adverse Camber', and for some reason the sign was always being stolen.

Alan, nobody is saying Abram is not nice as far as I can see.
There's a reason why it closed down and it had nothing to do with Wigan council or the brewery. It closed because the general public stopped going out for a drink.

A pub that I know recently changed its name from the White Horses to the White Horse. No idea why. Would never happen in Shevvy.

Sue,
What have pubs closing got to do with this Government??? I've read some tinfoil hat wearing claptrap on the site, but you take the biscuit...Mind you, anyone who regards GB News as worthy journalism doesn't require logic or reason to form an opinion, they just take an off- the -shelf, preformed,small-minded xenophobic load of clap-trap to save the effort of thinking....

Gareth Cheetham I love that “tinfoil hat wearing claptrap” response - I must remember that…..
I would have thought pubs raked in loadsa money to give to the tax robbers.

This was my local from the mid 60’s onwards. It was always very busy then. Sadly it only reflects the licenced trade at present. Lots being closed I read. Sure the old adage ‘ use um or lose um’ came into play.

Gareth, take no notice. Two names on here are one and the same person who must think we all came down in the last shower. That would never happen in Abram where people are not posh but are genuine and honest. Cyril, the "adverse camber" sign is still there, as is the original simple "ABRAM" sign in capital letters that used to be where the more elaborate sign is now. The original sign was rescued by a group of people called Abram Community Link many years ago, and placed on the wall under the canal bridge. You can see it as you approach the bridge from Golborne; just look under the bridge as you approach the adverse camber if you are ever this way and you will see it.

John Noakes, you are a complete idiot. Abram is just the other side of Platt Bridge and closer to Golborne and Ashton, nowhere near Hindley.

Yes Cyril, the Navigation at Gathurst closed its doors and was attacked by people who pinch stuff for a living. It was mostly the lead from the roof and was being to look in a sorry state, so the owners were told to sort it out quickly, and they did by erecting a big, high, vandal-proof fence around it.

It’s a sign of the times Brian isn’t it like the Crawford Arms at RedRock and the Navigation at Gathurst all three where great places to be especially at weekends maybe cheep booze at supermarkets who knows.

Sky News is better. Although I like Patrick Christy.