Wigan Album

Ron, I've never heard anyone mention the Assembly Rooms either, though the rooms seem to be large with cooking facilities or an oven at least to keep their hot pot warm, maybe the rooms were above some of those shops that fronted Market Street and the Market Arcade and accessed from there.

There must also have been living quarters above the Legs of Man and there was also a saying that the top Legs of Man and the bottom Legs of Man was connected by a corridor that ran along upstairs, or was that a myth?

The Assembly Rooms were on Powell street.

They may have been in the Drill Hall at some time Bruce, as they had "to do training in Military Drill and learn morse code, aircraft recognition etc.," and later "there was greater emphasis in the GTC training programme to recognise the girls as "a potential wife and mother".
They also later became Air Cadets and Sea Cadets. Here's a page from Wikipedia about them nationally and where the info above came from. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Association_of_Training_Corps_for_Girls
I thought the fact these girls had to provide their own uniforms to be most unfair, especially too as this was to be from their clothing ration coupons, whilst their male counterparts were provided with a free uniform.

I remember in Wigan the Air Cadets being on Soho Street and then at Canal Street, and the Sea Cadets being on Hardybutts and Warrington Lane, they're now at Molyneux House, School Lane.

Bruce, the letter in the photo mentions 'The New Assembly Rooms, Market Arcade.' so maybe they moved to there to further train as potential wives and mothers and also making items and products to sell at their Annual Sale of Work.

The entrance to the little arcade was part of the the Legs of Man building and part way up the arcade on the right there was a step up to the entrance which would still be part of the pub building.

Cyril, yes there was a passageway which connected the Top and Bottom Legs of Man pub. I've been along it. But I can't remember if it was on the ground floor or upper floor? I remember It had frosted glass panels on either side, so was quite light,

Ron, I've copied and pasted this from The Town Centre Trail, it mentions the arcade and the Legs of Man with the corridor above the shops, but nothing about the assembly rooms, either in the arcade or above those buildings in Commercial Yard and between the arcade.

'This site was formerly occupied by the Market Arcade (Little Arcade) and Commercial Yard. At the arcade ends, at Market Place and on Woodcock Street, was the Legs of Man public house (1879) known as the ‘top and bottom legs’ with two entrances about 90 meters apart linked by a
corridor over the arcade shops!'

see page 21. https://www.wigan.gov.uk/Docs/PDF/Resident/Planning-and-Building-Control/Conservation-areas/WiganTownTrail550kb.pdf

Cyril, I know all about the Market Arcade, and the Legs of Man pubs, but never heard anything about the Assembly Rooms before? I'll have to see what I can find out about them when I'm next in the History Shop.

If you look on Harry Walders painting of the Market Place Item #: 28038 You will see that the properties above the arcade are two stories. So Maybe the Assembley Rooms where on the second or top floors., above and at the side of the Arcade.?

Ron, it's certainly strange why there isn't any mention of those assembly rooms in the history and information about the Market Arcade as they do seem to have played an important role in the past. Thinking about it there must have been storerooms off there too somewhere for the folks who had the stalls, they must have had somewhere to store their stock, such as Sid Smith for his magazines and weeklies etc., and Bob Rudd's weighing machine, though whenever walking along there you didn't look for storerooms or suchlike.