Woodcock Street

I remember Miss Turner a sweet little lady. She sold beautiful lace collars. I also remember Measons sweet shop. They sold really thick bars of chocolate that you couldn't get your teeth through. There was also a hairdressers above these sops. I think it was called Top Corner. Phillip Hodgekinson started his career in hairdressing there. (Any one remember Phillip?)

I recall going to Crank & Burtons to buy some solder and sheet copper, would have been in the early 1980s,I had to go into a dark cellar for the solder looked as f nothing had changed int here for years.

I USED TO WORK IN THE OFFICE AT CRANK & BURTON'S IN 1962. I REMEMBER MR.BURTON COMING TO WORK ON HIS MOTOR BIKE AND ALSO HIS UNIQUE FILING SYSTEM. MR.SANDERSON WAS THERE AS WELL AS MR.ROBERTS ETC. I LIKED WORKING THERE BUT HAD TO LEAVE BECAUSE OF MY PREGNANCY.

From being a teenager I used to gaze in Crank and Burtons window at a beautiful dark green Aga cooker..and wish..but I still haven't got one.also the very end shop at the end of Makinsons was where I bought all my blouses and skirts..to Mike Atkinson..your Dad taught me to drive and a great instructor and man he was as well..never forget him.

remember ben turners butchers myuncle William woosey was the manager there in the 1940s /1950s I used to go every week with my mum to get our ration of meat.

I remember my dad john atkinson had an upstairs office in woodcock st "classic school of motoring"lots of old furniture very atmospheric old captains chairs ect

I remember my dad john atkinson had an upstairs office in woodcock st "classic school of motoring"lots of old furniture very atmospheric old captains chairs ect

Wow I've just come across some history on this page, a post I posted 9 years ago! Sadly things haven't changed since then, apart from the disappearance of Station Road. I know we can look upon things with rose tinted glasses but I genuinely think Wigan missed a trick when it had its long period of redevelopment. If it had avoided the trap so many towns fell into and renovated rather than redeveloped we would have a possible tourist mecca. But hindsight is a wonderful thing. Thanks for sharing all the memories on this website. Let's hope the future generations can appreciate it too

I remember the habadashery store run by the little lady as I used to go in with my mum for cotton elastics etc and was fascinated by it all.Why oh why did all these shops have to go

Just taken a stroll around wigan market brings back lots of memories,of my grandfathers, fathers, fish stall and shop,any body out remember them,James Read&Son

Just found this site! Callands toy shop - that was my mum´s uncle Dick´s place - love uncle Dick and Auntie Dot to pieces and was spoiled rotten by them! Gareth seems like your father and my gran were brother and sister - is your father John? cause I remember him visiting my nan once when i was very small. Bev what relation are you? I lived in Guildford 1985 - 2003!!

Miss Turner,who ran the Haberdashery shop ,was a friend of my mother's,Miss Turner lived at no 43,on the left going towards shevington from wigan ,just past the railway bridge that crosses the road near wigan park side entrance(it may be called Park Road) just before you get to Gidlow Lane

I remember as a child being taken on the steam train from Garswood to Wigan by my Granny, she did beautiful embroidery and we always went into the haberdashery shop to buy cottons, silks, linen and transfers (to be ironed onto the linen) it was a fascinating shop and lead to me working in and doing a lot of my own sewing over the years. We then went into Makinsons where we bought tea that was weighed out into special parcels that the assistant made there and then, does anyone remember the man who worked there that was a very bad cripple? I think he might have been the owner or family--he had that air of authority about him,a realy lovely man.The fish market, tripe shop and then fruit market all followed, all the shopkeepers new my Granny and treated her like a lady. We would then make our way back for the train but before going home there was another treat in store, hot meat pie, barmcake ond cup of tea at Pooles across from the station. Oh dear I forgot to mention we never came home without some Uncle Joes!!!

Does anyone rember the outdoor fish market ? It was under an open canopy to the left of Crank & Burtons the picture. It was always cold in there even in summer. Just around the corner, where the rear entrance of what used to be the BHS, was Reads Fishmongers underneath the Wishbone Cafe. Jimmy Read Jnr was a great friend of my Fathers.

To Carl in Margate. I have found a photo of a promotion at Crank & Burton's from late 1970s. It is of a young lady whom I do not recognise - possibly your sister? She has dark, long curly hair.

I remember as a 16year old in 1963 working in Winstanley and Fairhursts chemists in Market St.It was owned by a lovely couple Mr & Mrs Hope. At lunchtime I would sometimes cross over into Hallgate to Friar Tucks or the Wishing Well Cafe where egg n chips b/butter n cuppa tea could be bought for 2/6d (old money)

The Westminster Bank yard backed onto Woodcock Street which was also the staff entrance when I worked there in 1959/60. Roy, our Bank Messenger, and his wife permitted the staff to watch the wedding of Princess Margaret and Anthony Armstrong Jones in their cottage which was situated in the bank yard not far from the Woodcock St exit. I remember the two Asian lady models in Makinsons's coffee shop window and also the wonderful smell when they were roasting and grinding the coffee. Cassinelli's had an ice-cream cart on Woodcock Street too and as a child I can remember whimpering now for an ice-cream.

does anyone have a crank n burtons catalough from late 70s early 80s coz my sister carole modeled the gas fires in it,

Callands toy shop was owned by Dick Calland but his wife's name was Dorothy.

Crank & Burton bought the ice making plant (Ashton's I believe) in the 1950s (having previously been in Commercial Yard). My father (Bill Burton) used to tell the tale that when they moved in the building was full of rats with long, furry coats.

Meesons - Iremember when sweets first came off ration. I went, as a young boy, and queued along Market Street to get some sweets at Meesons. When I got to the front of the queue, all the sweets had gone except for a few Pear drops. I walked all the way home to Pemberton eating pear drops - wonderful

Peter Conroy wholesale fruit was on the corner next to meesons sweet shop I worked in the office

Callands toy shop belonged to my Dad's brother Dick and his wife Val. Dad and him had fallen out with each other (don't know why!) so we never got any freebies!

Re: E. M. Finch, Baughton, Worcestershire I remember Peterkins which was taken over by Coopers a Liverpool company and was then taken over Garfield Burton's Fine Fare. The manager was ? Frank Orrell. There is a photograph of the shop & staff in the book "Wigan Evening Posts Images of Wigan" page 22.Voses Tripe shop became the UCP (United Cattle Products) they had shops in many of the towns in the North West

i remember going to crank,s for nails as an apprentice one of men serving was named percy he could pick a handfull of nails and they would be weight you asked for.down stairs in the plumbing dept. there was a low beam. writen on it was duck or grouse

When I was in Wigan Borough Police in 1963 boxes of fish were delivered over a Friday night to the new fish shops opposite Crank & Burtons in Woodcock Street ready for Market day on Saturday. We had reports that some of the boxes were disappearing and I was delegated to freeze to death in Crank & Burton's doorway in the early hours to keep watch over the already delivered and stacked fish boxes full of ice. A second refrigerated lorry eventually turned up, and dropped his load of wooden ice filled fish boxes, but then started loading up the ones left previously. On being approached the driver reversed the procedure and stated that he was only delivering, and had done nothing wrong. Up before the beak old son!

The Crank and Burton building used to be an ice making plant supplying the Market Hall and many other places

no mention is made of the fact that woodcock street was named after the wigan soldier who won the v.c.

I remember "Callands" toy shop as being the best place in Wigan to get your "Action Man" gear.Spent a small fortune in there.

PETEKINS GROCERS WAS ON THE CORNER OF MARKET ST. AND HALLGATE, THEY USED TO DELIVER GROCERIES TO MY GRANDMOTHER AT PROSPECT STANDISH EVERY THURSDAY, SHE SENT A GROCERY LIST BY MAIL ON MONDAY

The "Lifeline" shop in the pic above also used to be "Callands" toy shop. Spent many a happy time in there (and my mum spent a small fortune on Paul Daniels Magic Tricks and Star Wars figures!) It was TINY and tapered even narrower towards the back. I remember the owner was a bloke with a beard, and there was a blonde woman too. No idea what their names were though. Good memories :-) ...

The 2 small shops next door to Crank and Burtons were both Ben Turners Ltd. The address was 9 and 10 Woodcock St. Ben Turner was a Butcher with about 10 shops in the Wigan area. My father, Walter Latham was manager of the shop in Worsley Mesnes.

I remember Crank and Burton installing my NEW central heating system, to be run on anthracite. We got a loan from the coalboard and paid it back weekly from my husbands wages at the colliery.

Im pretty young (26) but I remember I think it was called Tommy Ball Shoe shop on woodcock street just before it was torn down. It was just before "Tin Can Alley" (from Woodcock Street to Marketgate I think). I remember my Gran and I going along the alley buying some cotton thread. I also remember Boots on Standishgate (approx opposite Mothercare as I remeber, and I remeber going to the Lower section and My Grandmother getting me a Lucozade! Id like to hear from anyone else who is interested in Wigan as it was, and come on Wigan Town....get your act together Please! Marketgate, Market Street and Station Road....Lets get the whole of the town looking alive again!

Does anyone remember Peterkins high class Grocery store near Voses Tripe shop and Websters hair dressers. As a child I remember the overhead wires with tubes they used to put your money in and they would swish on the wires to the office above the serving counters and then come back with the receipt and change.

As a child i remember whenever i passed Makinsons i always stopped to look at the two huge coloured pictures of Asian women picking tea with baskets on their backs. In those days i'd never seen an Asian person before,i was fasinated with them.