Wigan Album

I was brought up at 35 Dicconson st in the sixties and seventies. I realise it would have been demolished by then but does anyone know where it used to be?

Roger, I know that time has certainly passed by since you posted your question, but I've only just come across (via another post about Dicconson Street) this photograph and your question.
Firstly, I grew up in the area and spent many happy years on those streets and knew many other kids in the area.
I don't remember the building ever existing. Like you, I believe that it was demolished before I was born. But, having a close look at the photograph and knowing the area, I will have a guess at the date of the photograph and where Dicconson Arms Hotel possibly could have been.

I would say that the photograph was taken at around 1900.
Obviously, we can see it is on a corner. If we consider that the photograph is a true representation of the position, we can deduce the following:
- Due to the position of the street sign on the wall (Dicconson Street) it rules out 50% of the corners. In other words, if you came down or up one of the other streets, the Dicconson Arms Hotel would have been on the opposite left corner.
- It seems that the building is on relatively flat ground and what we can see of the two streets, they also seem relatively flat. This rules out some of the corners, because (as you probably can remember) Wrightington Street, Eccleston Street, Marton Street and Upper Dicconson Street aren't flat. Additionally, Dicconson Street is not flat in parts.
- I would also say that it is definitely not on the corner of Standishgate, because there were buildings there which I believe predated this photograph.
- There also seems to be some shops further down the other street on the photograph and so this could possibly be very close to the town centre.

My guess is that it was at the bottom of Upper Dicconson Street and on the corner of New Market Street and Dicconson Street.
Please understand, this is only my guess. But, it certainly fits with everything I have concluded. I cannot recall any building being on that corner, just some waste ground. This area was cleaned up and grassed decades ago. But, I remember that there were some large Victorian houses which were demolished and a car park was put there; this was on the opposite side of the old Weslyan School etc and opposite to where those buildings on the left side of Dicconson Street are.

The only other possibility is that this photograph was taken earlier than I believe (and possibly earlier than many people believe) and the shops on the corner of Standishgate and Dicconson Street weren't as old as many of us thought.
So, Dicconson Arms Hotel may have been on that corner (Standishgate & Dicconson Street), where the shop with the mock tudor and cupola once stood.
It is a shame that there isn't more of the two streets on the photograph or a street sign on the other side of Dicconson Arms Hotel, because this would certainly help us to place the building much better.
If the building stood there, then it seems that most of that corner was demolished and all those shops with the mock tudor facade were built there.

Just checked the 1894 25 inch to the mile OS Map for Wigan, and the only public house or hotel anywhere on Dicconson Street, was on the north west corner of that street and Standishgate.

Mick LD,
It would be interesting to know when the Dicconson Arms Hotel and the buildings next to it were demolished.
For me, it seems so strange to demolish, what looks like, a substantial building that looks to be solid and replace it with shops structured to look very old and older than the demolished building.