Wigan Album

Oh I wish it was like that now, a real Wigan with character and warmth, So much to see and do.

Agreed, Garry! Just to walk down there again when it looked like this, and to wander around Oxley's and Woolworth's, minus piped music! Thankyou for posting this, Colin.

Anyone remember the Court School of Dancing? It is on this photograph but where?

Oxleys doorway brings back many memories of waiting for girls who never showed up !!

Colin, thanks for that..I used to love going in Oxleys..and as for Woolworths,when I was a little 'un, my mam used to say"now don't forget if you get lost stand at this weighing machine" I wonder who has that now..they were happy days and I'm quite sure I'm not looking through rose tinted glasses..in fact I'm positive.

Woolies: used to walk up from Linacre at lunch time just to eat a ¼ of warm Cashew Nuts, oh they were so good.

Chuff,the Court School of Dancing is level with and to your right of the NO ENTRY sign,above the foyer of the RITZ cinema.

I remember that weighing machine momac,a big red thing with a clock dial,it was just inside the front door.When did Pools change to Oxleys.Good OLD Wigan!! P.S.I once played John Oxley at Chess,for a pound, and won,And yesI'm still waiting for it.

Oxleys will always be Pooles for me and I expect for other over 70's.

Oxley's was a rambling sort of shop, you could wander round for ages. Who remembers the big clock that used to be in Woolworth's?; and they used to have the only escalator in Wigan at one time.

Fab photo. Looks like a ghost town on a Sunday until after tea when places started to open. Brings back many memories of the shops, Ritz and yes Court School of Dancing which me and my mates, Malcolm and Tony frequented in the mid 60s. Soft drinks bar and all. Stan was in charge at that time and was his assistants name Barbara? We had great times and met a few of my girlfriends there. Remember jiving, the twist and the Madison as well as the ball room dances like the cha cha cha, tango, square tango, quickstep, waltz and all. What memories. Teenagers of today certainly have missed out. Too much for them to do.

There are two identical weighing machines to the one that used to be in Woolworth's in Wigan Market Hall.I remember the escalator; I can remember children riding up and down just for the novelty....they wouldn't think it anything special today.

Would this be the mid fifties? Were Oxleys there that early? Would have thought it would still have been Pooles in the mid fifties. Pity you can't make out what was showing at the Ritz (I can't anyway!) as it might have given a clue as to the date.

Yes, I think it was Oxley's in the mid-fifties. I was born in 1952 and can recall going to Oxley's as a young child. My Mam sometimes called it Poole's but people tended to give shops the name they were used to, even when they changed hands, just out of familiarity.

If you look at PLACES.STATION ROAD. the second photo. in shows the building with the POOLES signage in the early 1950's

Does anyone remember the burgers that woolies sold, sausage meat cooked with onions on a balm cake, absolutely mouthwatering, a glass of milk and we had eaten out, not tasted anything like them since, tried to do them at home, though they tasted good they didnt taste the same, think they were 9punce.

in the early 60s it used to be waring and gillow,not oxleys. used to wait for my date who was always late !! but were still together

I would like to apologise to everyone, I didn't know this photo was already on WW? As Ron says, if you click on to Places and Station Road, Dennis Seddon has uploaded his photo that's much better Quality than this version.
derekb...mid 1950s, ABC Cinema was showing "The film night of the demon".

Oxleys and Waring and Gillow co-existed for quite a few years.
Waring and Gillow took over the end buildings of Oxleys on the corner of Millgate and Station Rd, while Oxleys still occupied the remainder.

Then, sadly....................
[img="http://www.wiganworld.co.uk/streets/s/s385.jpg"][/img]

Between Oxleys and Waring and Gillow it was John Peters furniture and carpets, no one seems to remember this shop.

Colin..I honestly don't think anybody will mind one little bit.

Thanks Colin Harlow for the info re what was showing at the Ritz. I can make it out now! I think that this film was released in 1957 and, other than the old ones that were always shown on Sunday evenings, the Ritz always featured first run films, which seems to indicate the year the photo was taken.

Yes Kam I remember the burger/onion barms from Woolies,in the early 60s our gang of kids from Goose Green, on saturday mornings would go swimming at the old swimming baths in Millgate then down to Woolies.Some Saturdays we would go to the ABC minors at the Ritz cinema then on to Woolies afterwards. great memories from our childood happy times!

i look very fondly on this picture,the shropshire lad as come into my mind and i'm feeling sad re the new wigan.

Blimey, Nigh Of The Demon! Didn't see this film at the flicks but on TV in the late 60s. I remember I should have been driving out to Marus Bridge from Wigan to my girlfriends but there was a very dense fog that night so didn't venture out. I though the film quite scary for the time it had been made. Anyone remember the actors? Dana Andrews rongs a bell as the main character. I know I could check it out on the internet but prefer to use little grey cells.

John Alan, Dana Andrews was the good guy and I think Peter Cushing was in it. Although Dana Andrews was the main character, it was a British film. The final sequence was set on a steam train and involved the bad guy ending up with the demon and being run down by another steam train.

Derekb. I don't think Peter Cushing was in the film, the bad guy was quite stocky, in mid life and lived in a big house with his mother. The plot included passing a slip of paper with a spell to a victim without him knowing, the paper then burst into flames invoking the demon and yes the final scenes were on a steam train with the baddy being passed back the slip of paper he had been given Dana Andrews and being torn to pieces by the demon on the track whilst trying to escape leaving a smouldering heap. The railway employees and police saying he had been struck by a passing train to cause such injuries. Great plot and good special effects for the time.