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Millgate

54 Comments

Millgate in the 60s
Millgate in the 60s
Photo: Gerry
Views: 8,304
Item #: 16345
Another look down a cobbled Millgate

Comment by: John on 17th November 2010 at 19:38

Was Kays secondhand shop on the left somewhere?

Comment by: josie on 17th November 2010 at 20:11

lovely.

Comment by: Dave T on 17th November 2010 at 20:36

Brilliant photo this is what Wigan World is all about

Comment by: Gerry on 17th November 2010 at 21:52

Dave there was an Army and Navy Stores in that area but Kays was in Darlington St

Comment by: Dave T on 17th November 2010 at 23:13

Just after the chip shop on the right where the half brick wall is was that the Salvation Army Church, and could someone remind me what the pub was called next to it

Comment by: Dave. on 17th November 2010 at 23:46

The Ship

Comment by: J90 on 18th November 2010 at 00:02

THE PUB WAS THE SHIP

Comment by: KathhWal on 18th November 2010 at 00:09

DaveT I think it was called The Ship.

Comment by: Mick on 18th November 2010 at 00:19

The pub was The Ship, Dave.

Comment by: Art on 18th November 2010 at 01:12

Dave, the pub was "The Ship Hotel"

Comment by: stephen atherton on 18th November 2010 at 03:00

Dave the pub was called the ship hotel,the front with the name on is still there.

Comment by: Dennis Miller on 18th November 2010 at 06:21

Dave T... it was The Ship Inn.

Comment by: cp on 18th November 2010 at 07:30

ship hotel

Comment by: Helen on 18th November 2010 at 08:18

What does this look like today ?

Comment by: dot on 18th November 2010 at 09:53

I think the photo is earlier than the 60's Gerry,-going to meetings in the Salavtion Army Hall, (just above the Ship,) I think the cobbles had gone by then.
Dot

Comment by: aitch on 18th November 2010 at 09:55

Good lord, it seems that quite a lot of you remember the yachting club as it was more commonly called.

Comment by: Cyril on 18th November 2010 at 11:01

On the left of the photo there was a ginnel that led to a large yard where there was some workshops, when I worked at the co-op in the sixties we would take furniture up there to Dick Cheetham's French Polishers to be repaired, touched up or re-polished.

There was some right men and women characters who frequented The Ship too, especially when they'd had a few and Lena Martell came on the juke box singing the Old wooden cross and they all started singing along, it's a pity all that banter in there wasn't taped.

Comment by: irene roberts on 18th November 2010 at 11:41

What a lovely memory, Cyril.

Comment by: Keith guest on 18th November 2010 at 15:35

So was that pub called the Ship then? LoL

Comment by: Duncan on 18th November 2010 at 15:43

The Ship was still there till the Grand Arcade was built though it was a Yate's Wine Lodge for some years.

Comment by: RON HUNT on 18th November 2010 at 16:04

You can just make out the "SHIP YARD" sign on the wall. This was also an alley way which brought you out at the side of the Casino opposite the Ritz

Comment by: John on 18th November 2010 at 18:55

Dot..cobbles still there in the 60s.

Comment by: fred on 18th November 2010 at 19:03

The Photo was taken facing Ashcrofts fishing tackle shop use
to go there as a lad every saturday for my maggots.happy days.

Comment by: Gerry on 19th November 2010 at 09:04

Dot seems to think this was before the 60s? lets try and sort it out.. when were modern international road signs brought in? (no right turn sign in pic)isn't that an Austin 1800 parked up? didnt the come out abut 1968?

Comment by: Colin Harlow on 19th November 2010 at 09:51

Gerry, the car is an Austin 1100 that was in production from 1962-1971....Our family and friends attended the Salvation each sunday in the 60s, the road was cobbled then as far as the Horse Shoe pub.

Comment by: David on 19th November 2010 at 10:43

Behind were the photographer is stood there used to be a brewery on the right hand side,if memory serves me correctly it was called Moorfield Brewery.

Comment by: minstrel on 19th November 2010 at 15:50

Does anybody remember a place called the Green Curtain, I believe it was somewhere near where yhe woman is standing on the right.

Comment by: RON HUNT on 19th November 2010 at 15:56

The Green Curtain has been mentioned many times on this website. Both in comments on photographs, and topics on the Forums. Any people youger than 55 won't know what it was<g>

Comment by: John on 19th November 2010 at 16:08

That's why minstrals asking the question?

Comment by: RON HUNT on 19th November 2010 at 16:18

Meant to add this from a comment on another photo of Millgate.
The Green Curtain was a type of 'club' If you can call someones front living room a club. Because that was how big it was. It was frequented regularly by the McFarland Brothers, Billy and Joe. Wigan's own Kray twins. I only went in a few times. It wasn't a young lads scene.<g>

Comment by: JohnB on 20th November 2010 at 20:25

Hi Cyril, I'm intrigued, what is a ginnel? It's a new one for me, is it a Wigan expression? or is it a typo?

Comment by: dot on 20th November 2010 at 21:29

I'e just had a look at photos of Millgate in "Street Scenes" on 1st June 2010, and see that Gerry queries an Austin 1800 coming up the street, making the date of the photo 1968/69, - but there are no cobbles!!
I'm no expert on cars, or cobbles!, what do you think Gerry?
Dot.

Comment by: Ron Hunt on 21st November 2010 at 15:25

A 'ginnel'is a lancashire name for and 'alley way' or an entry which leads to the backs of terrace houses.

Comment by: David on 21st November 2010 at 18:25

The car is an austin or a morris 1100 its certainly not an 1800 the 1800 was much bigger. I had an 1100 and it is certainly one of those

Comment by: John on 21st November 2010 at 20:13

Dot. Colin Harlow is spot on with the car and the dates.

Comment by: Colin Harlow on 21st November 2010 at 20:33

The car in street scenes Millgate 1st June 2010, is a Triumph 1300, that vehicle was in production from 1965-1970.
I hope this helps.

Comment by: Bill Eatock on 22nd November 2010 at 20:24

Memories... Yes the cars an Austin or Morris 1100. I was an apprentice mechanic in 1966 and hated fitting new distributor points on that model. Had to be treble jointed to get at the distributor! Either that or take the grill off which was a job in itself.
I remember going to Tom Whalley's pet shop a few times at the back of the chippy (or therabouts) Tom used to buy puppies off us that our Lassie turned out like they were going out of fashion!

Comment by: Gerry on 22nd November 2010 at 21:10

Dot as you can see from my two comments I am infatuated with Austin 1800s ;-) and I got it wrong on both occasions but this photo must be after 1964 because that is when they brought out the international road signs. maybe the car experts on here can tell us when the Austin 1100 went into production

Comment by: dot on 23rd November 2010 at 10:41

Thank you Gerry and everyone who commented about the cars, - it could be that the photo is either early 60's or late 50's??
Dot.

Comment by: irene roberts on 23rd November 2010 at 13:53

Looking at the clothes of the people, I would say early 60s. I remember the shop called The Shoe Bar from when I was around 10 years old, (although I know the memory plays tricks with the passing years), and I turned 10 in October 1962. This is just a feeling from my memories of Millgate as a child and I am happy to stand corrected.

Comment by: JohnB on 23rd November 2010 at 20:27

Thanks Ron, for clearing up what the word ginnel means, it isn't in the dictionary so I guess it falls into the same category as "slutch", perhaps not uniquely a Lancashire word but something that needs to be "kept alive".

Comment by: Minstrel on 23rd November 2010 at 20:36

Ron
I am old enough to remember the Green Curtain although I never went in there.
Am I right in thinking that there was a place called Munros
at the end of Millgate or is my memory playing tricks with me.
I remember my dad taking me for a pint before I went for my army medical to Manchester in 1956.

Comment by: Alan on 23rd November 2010 at 20:50

The name "Munros" rings a bell, I think they were wine and beer merchants.

Comment by: Ron Hunt on 25th November 2010 at 15:37

If you look on Album. Street Scenes. Market Place. the Maxines shop was Munros, I think?? There was also a Wines and Spirits merchant on the corner of Standishgate and Crompton street next to what was Pendleburys

Comment by: Cathy Bolton on 28th November 2010 at 23:02

The wine shop on the corner of Standishgate and Crompton Street was Maltby's.

Comment by: maureen bennett nee pennington. on 3rd December 2010 at 18:54

in 1960one remeber the millgate cafe which was just a bit futher up the hill.i was always in there when i was15in 1960.

Comment by: Duncan on 16th March 2011 at 09:53

John, Kay's secondhand shop was in Darlington Street on the right after you come off King Street, who remembers getting a sixpenny gas mask from Kay's?

Comment by: Brenda Fisher on 17th April 2013 at 10:20

What a dump Wigan was in the 1960s!

Comment by: philip hill on 3rd July 2013 at 21:21

im over 55 ron i dont remember green curtain when did it close down,picture looks bout late 60s poss,still a good un though,

Comment by: JP on 16th June 2014 at 21:47

Shame on you Brenda. Wigan was magical then.

Comment by: Christine Marsden on 21st June 2016 at 18:38

My mum used to say every time we went past "the ship" ,"don't look in there,dirty women frequent it"!!!! Thought she meant they hadn't had a wash!!!!!

Comment by: Susan Davies on 13th December 2016 at 13:52

I now understand why my dad went mad when I said I'd been in the Ship as he called it in the 1980's. It was Raffles Wine Bar then, he thought it was still frequented by 'dirty women' ha ha

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