Commercial Yard

Hi Tony Berry , I was one one the crew that went in the Commercial , I remember them all you mentioned , I was with you all till about 1968 when I got married and started to raise a family, I wish I had kept intouch with you all we had some great times , in the Commercial and I will always remember our Holidays to the Isle of Man in 1966 and 67, hope you are all keeping well

I attended Wigan School of Art 1966,then situated in Library Street,now the Town Hall. The Commercial Yard Pub was a gem.A pie and a pint at lunchtime(back known as dinner time) Above the pub and surrounding the yard were textile workshops,many female workers on sewing machines.It should've been saved as a be heritage site.

Does anyone remember my grandparents, Ronnie val(valentine) I've heard he was a bit of a rummun and was in the merchant navy and lives in ince. My grandmother Audrey monks now valentine I can't remember where she was from I think may be Caroline street? I know her mum Mrs monks (Annie) used to have all loacal kids around for tea and she was a great well known character. My Grandad and grandma met in Wigan Emp....a place im forever being told of. They have just had their 58th wedding anniversary. Would love to know if anyone knew them so I can put names to these people he tells me about in his stories and also want to surprise them if I find any one. Thank you guys xxxx

I remember the Commercial Hotel. Back in the 1950s I jhad my first half there aged 17 and a half. All the time anxiously watching out for policemen who rigorously Enforced licensing laws in those days

hello mr,s margaret judson , i remember you well, but your husband better. i worked near him in the mantel cutting room, my name toy berry. long long time ago, how is les, not seen him since i left in 1963, i know you do not get on wigan world a lot same as me, hope to here from you , god bless t berry.

hello mrs margaret judson ,i remember your husband les, i was a cutter in the same room on the mantle side , i worked about 7 feet from les your husband , les worked in front of frank connelly near the window, god bless frank , i heard he had died. I remember les started going out with you , you used to come up to the cutting room. remember you well. small girl wiyh glasses on like me but i am male. good luck margaretx

hello mr joe thomas and mr kevin rose of the commercial club , hope you are both ok ,kevi n you worked at burton,s in warrington we all worked there from brown and haghs, eric green worked there ,all the cutter,s. gordon young, frank johnson, stanley sharples, bill mercer, les judson, tommy nurdin band knife cutter,mr conelly. c u later

me and all my mates used to go in the commercial in the sixties, 11 of us george naylor bill lancaster and great pub , i remember fred used to help jack and kay when he had retired, carol there daughter was a young girl about 12 year,s old . we was in the tap room at weekend playing 3 card brag, we were told off a few times by rose the waitress, lovely lady heart of gold , i wish them time,s would come back..

I well remember The Commercial Inn, Fred, Jack, Kay and Carol Latham. My mum was Rose Beacon who worked there for many years in the 60s and 70s. She lived in Coniston Park Drive Standish, not Worsley Hall, and always told me she had thoroughly enjoyed her time there.

Hi. Joe Thomas / Kevin Rose. I started working at Brown & Haigs March 1964 when I left school I was based in the pressing room to start with then moved on to several other jobs on the ladies side. I left in 67 ( after getting married to a Leslie judson who worked in the cutting room ) to have our daughter. I got friendly with a girl called Joan Thomas who work on the gents side making trousers, we both lived in Hindley Green. What year were you there and what departments were you in? I can,t place yor names at the moment, look forward for any comments.

Hi Joe Thomas. Just been catching up with messages from 'Commercial Yard' and spotted your reply to me. Great days at Brown and Haighs,lived on Wirral since 1969.How are you keeping these days?be good to hear from you or anyone else from Brown and Haigs who remembers us.

worked at McGregors decorators in the office, opposite side to the shop and upstairs, left to go to Skelmersdale Development Corporation. First time I had used an electric typewriter, lovely people to work for - old "Mr Mac" and Donald McGregor. sad to know Commercial Yard gone.

i remember going to the commercial one night on my honda 50 , parked it at the bottom of the yard near lattimer,s had couple opints in the dominoe room, said to my mates am off now up early for work, started walking home, got to the little tunnel prescott st, near my mayes george naylor,s house, i remembered i had gone to the commercial on my honda 50, blinking hell i had to go back i was nearli home, i lived in miry lane, good day,s.

The Moot Hall barbers were probably the first barber I used who would cut your hair the way you wanted it. My mum used to go spare cos I would ask for a trim. I recall they moved to the top of Library Street when the Yard closed down. Although not a regular me and the lads from Wigan Tech (Mechanical Engineering City & Guilds day release 69 - 74) would sometimes have a pie & a pint at lunchtime. I remember you got raw onions on yr pie.

me and my mates all went into the commercial inn in the 60s, bernard mullanie eric green jim belshaw bill lancaster,bill deacon,and co, we all had a great time , wish i could go back there , we new kay, jack , lanlord and landlady ,jacks dad fred , carol kay,s daughter the dog, don, the regular custermer like us, a think don was gay but he did not sound it, anyway all the best you owd commercialer,s .

Fond memories of The Commercial great evenings in the company of Barry Pomfret, Alan Pomfret, Malcolm Jukes, Mick Price,- happy days.

My Great-Grandparents ran The Commercial in the 1920s and I think 30s, they were also called Latham. My Great Grandmother was called Emily Latham. I wonder if they are connected to the Latham family who were there in the sixties?

Hi Kevin Rose I Remember You From Brown and Haighs I Worked There With Malcolm Seddon and Billy Tymon Till 1964 I Remember You To Tony Berry Not Seen You Up Town For Awhile Great Pub Commercial

there was also a fish shop in commercial yard in the 60,.i went in there a lot when i worked in mc.gregors.fond memories.

I remember the Commercial Yard as my grandparents Frank and Martha (Mattie) Wright ran The Fleece pub until it was demolished to make way for the shopping centre. The main entrance to the pub was on Market St but there was a back entrance in to the Commercial Yard

hello Dave Brogan (Worthing) are you the dave brogan who lived at the top of Sherwood drive? If so, I knew you from the late sixties /early seventies. if it is you do you recall going to the cinema in king street one evening? we watched a double bill: Butch Cassidy and prime of miss jean Brody? there was a crowd who drank in the Grand Hotel (local to us G.P.O telephonists) can't remember all the names: john Blackburn, dave Brogan, a tall young man with blonde hair cant for the life of me remember his name, Ian Pierce from Beech hill Ave, joan Williams, Joyce Barton, Marj alker, happy days. if it is you hope you are well and anyone else whose names I remembered I heard that Ian Pierce had died? don't know if that is correct?

My mother's mother's family, the Charnocks, lived at 25 Commercial Yard, Wigan at the time of the 1881 Census

t. berry again, hello all you commercial regs, from the 60s ,i used to go to the casino reguler on friday,s mondays, and wednesday,s with all my mates bernie mullaney, george naylor and co about eleven of us, start off in the whitewash pub, dont know if anybody know,s that pub, then swan n railway then up to comercial, till about 10 o clock ,we were some off the first member,s of the casino who handed george the bouncer our app, forms, iworked there for a spell as glass collecter, at late night dance,s any other glass collect ,s out there, i can rabbit on all day,. sorry about spelling, see u later. god bless,

hello t. berry here again any one remember little tunnel just of prescott st, had a crush n a girl then i was 16 ,mated whith mick huber and peter rathbone,the girl in question was pat wilson, i thought the world of her, peter my friend, had a few dates with pat i was jealous,hope yer all right and well god bless.xx

hello all all commercial regulars from the sixties hope u are all keeping fine, not wrote in for a while ,keep all the memories of old fred , jack, kay ,and kay,s daugter. keep,keep,s me happy, when i am feeling down we might get another commercial one day ,wish i could rewind time . all the best tony 1964 onward,s god bless.xx

YO, Ken, i'm not suprised you had to read it a few times, so did i mate, i think i somehow deleted a complete line, missed out i was standing outside the "melody house" shop waiting for my mate when my future wife (yes all of it true)walked passed and the rest is history, honest, yep, ruby for me this year, not many in that club these days, by the way,in between jobs met other girls who also had spells at john englands, and low and behold, my future wife who really didn't like me worked at j.e. before giving birth, spooky or what? (still working on the wife)ha ha, she calls my guitar the noise machine ! good times at englands...

Allan, you haven't changed - I had to read your message a few times, I'm still not sure how much of it is serious! I remember you had a girlfriend that worked on the middle floor. You must remember Kath at the comptometer room window. Soon after I turned 17 I got a 1958 Standard Pennant, I had a provisional licence so I got Mandy (blonde) from section 8 to come with me (she lived nearby and had a full licence). That was OK for a couple of weeks then she said her boyfriend was getting jealous and she couldn't do it any more. I don't know if that's true or she was just terrified by my driving - she wouldn't be the only one. You might remember one weekend we played at The Beachcomber (Casino) Friday night, then I had to do overtime Saturday. I left work at 1.30pm, legged it to meet the band at The Beachcomber to load up (we had left the gear there overnight), then off to our Satd'y night gig at Llandudno Winter Gardens. The canteen was closed on Satd'y so I was starvin all day, I should have made a detour to The Commercial for a pie. I can remember this stuff from years back but I haven't a clue what I did yesterday! I got engaged at 18, then disengaged after 18 months. Married at 22, Ruby wedding last year. Keep taking the tablets!

Yo Ken,a car, A CAR,i was nearly sodding 30 before my first car,ha ha, i must have left before then sorry, i do envy your recall of names etc;i dont want to do the girls an injustice not remembering names but our filing crew wera a great bunch(went to pictures with one,nice)and tthe ones i think pa/typists sat outside jacob marley and scroo...sorry, cox and judd offices,again always great for a laugh and joke(if your reading this my humble apologies for not putting names to faces x)moving on, i nearly married at 19, realised i was to young i tried to negotiate,she wanted a ring,i wanted out,went awol 3 weeks before the day been on witness protection ever since..did i ever tell you i fancied playing/having some drums?told my mate i was buying some and arranged to meet in wigan after work last day now party timefor xmas hols,who walks past, but my future wife (who didnt like me)and some other girl friends i knew very well haing all been courses over the last year or so,(er,thats drinking courses)they asked why i was stood there, i pointed to the big round shiny things in the window and said that john was late,after they stopped laughing and called me an idiot they said stop looking like rudolph and go with them to get warm inthe nearest watering hole,so i did, my future wife who didnt like me also had a speech impediment, every time i asked her out she could only say, no,no,no,,wierd..so i did what they said, my deposit turned to liquid and rest of the night a blur.at new year,my future wife(wait for it)got in touch and suggested we go out, and, in no particular order, we got together,courted, fondled, engaged,pregnant,married (no expense spared boiled ham hanging off the plate)and,2 days before xmas, our lovely son was born,(no, we did not call him noel)all in a year mate,the saying what came first,the midwife or the vicar lol. so never got the drums, but this year its a little ruby medal for being a 40 year vet!!!took up guitar much later and, like all budding "hanks"i now can play the shadows stuff....badly....off to wembley next week, "come on you blues".....

Good to hear from you Allan, I hope you are well too. Yes we did our fair share of skiving in the warehouse, anything to get out of the office! There were generally 4 of us; US Army and another lad, can't remember his name. Wm Leyland's shop was a great distraction, I don't remember damaging a guitar ...... honest! Did you learn to play? In a typical week our lunch(dinner)times were; couple of days in the canteen, couple of days in the Commercial and a Chinese in the Pacific Ocean. I was at JE's for 18 months then went on to be a scientist (LOL), I studied to be an analytical chemist at Smithkline Beecham but gave it up after a couple of years (too many exams), since then been in sales. Do you remember me coming to work in my first car?

Hi Ken,yes thats me,i read some stuff earlier on and thought thats ken the bass player from ashton who introduced me to "Oggie",yep, good old john englands,i think speccy,s name is broadhurst (maybe),we spent mmore time with the guys in the warehouse having great laugh,i left to go plumbing but that didnt last, done allsorts since,i remember you and the membranes in leylands shop shh did we damage a guitar?..Blimey,teens,seem a lifetime ago, hope you well old fiend,am new to this site so a lot of catching up being done...

Allan Wilkinson: are you the lad who started at John Englands the same day that I did ? If you are these should jog your memory. Section 3, top floor, Speccy Broadmead, US army, breaks in the canteen with Jean and Margo, dinnertime in the park with Jean and Margo, HAZELLL.... You've already mentioned pies and pints in The Commercial.

Sue, Pwllheli, Wales: > It sounds like the same chap Sue, his wife was called Doreen: they got divorced in the late 1970's, I think. He was living in Careless Lane, Ince until he passed away in 2010. If you put Oggie in the search box at the top of this page there is quite a bit of info about him.

The Commercial pub,had my first ever pint there as a grown up,(well, 15 really)dinner time from John Englands had the classic Pie and Pint and of course the onions on top mmmmm,on saturdays we would meet there before going to play footy for our teams in the wigan am league, then again later to hear all results, scorers, incidents etc. before getting ratlegged around town. Free pint of jack when closing for loyal service to the bar. great bloke, great pub, great memories. oh, got dragged into moot hall for short back and sides a few times, no problem now, no hair left!!

Kenee- If I'm right Alan Hodgson(Oggie) was a friend of my ex hisbands and lived near him in Ince? sadly no longer with us I believe. We went on holiday one year with him and his wife Doreen to Devon, happy memories!

hi.used to go in the commercial every monday afternoon in the middle 60's due to working nights at halliday and constaine, [weaving]there was four of us we used to enjoy pie and onions and a game of darts. the land lady came from standish i think.i then work on excavation works in 1970 and outside the pub in the commercial yard there was a pit shaft this was only covered by railway sleepers and tarmac it was over 200ft deep.the whole area was pilled for 6 mths to secure the area.what a pity it is now empty.the shop reffered to was ashton tobbaconist.

me and my friends used to have the commercial as our local in the 1960s grand pub we stayed loyal until the pub shut down wish it was back again.

glad to here from you mr kevin rose a hope you are keeping ok ,all the best kev,T BERRY.

Dennis, the Comercial pub was demolished along with Comercial Yard when the Galleries shopping centre was built.

does anybody know who owns the commercial inn pub now?, it is closed and has been for some time, i now that it was due to go up for auction some time ago but the pub was sold before the auction took place

David -Worthing: You were spot on knowing where Rose Beacon lived as she was our next door but one neighbour in Coniston Park Drive. My playmate was Michael (Micky) her son and every year he had to have brand new white sandals for the Whit Walks and wouldn't wear them afterwards so they came to me! Also one morning I was in Roses house playing with Mickey and we were spinning around on a table on our bottoms and I fell off and cut my head open! Also I knew Anne Craike but cant remember where from? Did she live on Wigan Road near Coniston Park Drive? Cal Jones: I wasn't aware that Rose lived in Worsley Hall but would be interested to hear more. There was a sister called Christine that used to babysit me and my brother too. Lindsay Rudd- Rose was your nana! She was a lovely lady

I used to go to the Commercial Pub in Commercial yard at the end of the 60's drinking halves of Double Diamond with my friends, we were only 16 but never had problems getting served irrespective of the fact that Rose Beacon worked behind the bar there and happened to live two doors away from me but she never told my parents! We then graduated to The Casino and later on to The Palais. One night we were in there we met the band for Root and Jenny Jackson who were playing at The Casino that night and we were star struck, especially when the thursday afterwards they were on TOTP! A fabulous pub and happy days!

mr j mcnight manager of wct used to send inspector into commercial to see if any staff was in uniform drinking early 60s

Aye Ron, I always reckoned that (Mid 1960's), Lunch at the Tory Club was one of the best deals on offer in Wigan. Their golden syrup sponge pudding was superb!

Hello David, This is Paula Rainford , Rita's daughter. I have just picked up your message. Sadly my Dad passed away on 30th January. He had fallen and broken his hip before Christmas, and unfortunately didn't recover from it. Mum is coping well in difficult times. I will show her your message. Hope you are well.

Hello Rita, only just seen your message. No, I don't remember the record or bottle, it must be over 40 years ago. Glad to hear you and Jim are ok. I haven't been back to Wigan for 12 years, I intend comming in 2012 - might bump into you! David.

The Moot Hall barbers was upstairs on the right behind the tobacconists and was run by Barry, who now lives up in Cumbria, but I see him occasionally coming through Preston. The old Wigan Corporation Bus Co's office was at the top in Market Place and the General Manager was Jim McKnight, who lived opposite my parents in Holme Terrace.

I used to call in for a couple of pints of drought guinness three or four nights a week after two hours at the gym,great memories.e

hello lindsay rudd i remember your aunty rose very much a very nice lady she knew us all as long the commercial was there in the 60s thats 63 upwards until it closed,rose was very nice lady good sense of humour a very honest downtoearth lady I can picture her now god bless her.. jphn berry.

Hello David Brogan, you remember The Gate Snack bar of course, and your friend "gosh" ? and Tommy Farrimond is still living in Wigan, and not changed much. Jim Is well. Its good to hear your name mentioned and often wondered where you were now. Do you remember selling me the Marvyn Gaye LP and the gren bottle with the monkey on?. I still have them. Rita.

I remember the barbers shop in Commercal Yard. My brother Alf was a friend of Jimmy the guy who owned it. I remember you too Tony Berry - we worked together at one time at Brown and Haighs in the wonderful 60s. Hope you are keeping well.