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18 Comments

Can anyone identify this pub?
Can anyone identify this pub?
Photo: Dave White
Views: 7,539
Item #: 29621
I'm not 100% sure if the pub is even in Wigan but think it may have been the Bridge Inn on Chapel Lane, Poolstock and that the street sign in the picture belongs to Bridge Street.

Neil Richardson, in his book Wigan's Pubs 1 said "Walker's Bridge was a red tiled, one room alehouse with a local clientele and a welcoming, roaring coal fire in the winter". The pub, along with others on Chapel Lane was swept away in the reconstruction programmes of the 1960s.

Comment by: Garry on 8th August 2017 at 14:50

You're right Dave on Chapel Lane, the tall flats can be seen at Worsley Mesnes.

Comment by: Maureen on 8th August 2017 at 14:57

Yes it's definitely on Chapel Lane.

Comment by: Anne Melling on 8th August 2017 at 15:41

This is the Bridge Inn which was on the corner of Bridge St. and Chapel Lane it was the last pub on the left before the canal bridge and my Aunty Elizabeth Platt was the landlady in the 60s.

Comment by: Harry C. on 9th August 2017 at 08:09

Chapel Lane, I used to work across the road at Wigan Print, there was a pie shop on the opposite corner.

Comment by: Helen B on 9th August 2017 at 08:39

There was another pub in Bridge Street, opposite the Bridge Inn, The Fox I think. Then a little further along Chapel Lane was the infamous Bears Paw, empty around the late 60's or early 70's, and used as a hideout for forgers.
The pie shop could have been Linneys, It was also a butchers shop.
I worked across the road at the Electricity Board at Bradford Place.

Comment by: Dave White on 9th August 2017 at 09:20

Thanks for confirming, Anne. Mystery solved.

Comment by: Sam h on 9th August 2017 at 10:38

Dave,use to pass this pub when I left school about 1965 on my way to work at Richard fosters furnature manufactures , my first apprentiship.walkers was a really good bear in those days better than some of today's.good picture Dave .

Comment by: Ian on 9th August 2017 at 12:08

Great photo Dave, many generations of my Walsmsley family lived in Bridge Street from the 1870's until it was demolished.

Comment by: Anne Melling on 9th August 2017 at 15:05

It was on the right sorry not the left

Comment by: Fred on 9th August 2017 at 21:25

Yes Ian I remember the Boon family who lived in bridge street the family used to frequent the Bridge pub and the Fox

Comment by: Stewart Revell on 30th August 2017 at 12:19

Thanks to everybody who provided info on this Pub.
The Photo was taken by my Brother Ian and his Scottish friend in 1974 when they were students. 43 years ago!
It was not known that it was going to be demolished at that time. So, if you Download this Photo, please give a 'Credit'/acknowledgement to Ian Revell who has the original print. Thank you.

Comment by: Mr Steven Dwyer on 31st January 2020 at 03:40

The linney family butchers and pie shop was on chapel lane Wigan Lancashire when I was a child and in the mid to late 90's the linney family had their home which backed on the canal "I think the name of the street was called Winstanley place a small square shaped street" opposite philbin office supplies on poolstock lane i forget what number but prior to the homes being demolished after Mr linney think his first name was Stan had passed away I went inside the then empty homes were drug addicts had broken in to doss down and people looking for scrap metal to sell and came across remnants of his property which had decayed and found on the staircase a bundle of old order sheets and business papers referring to the business expenses of the last forty years or more the only treasure I took for myself was a small butchers hook which I found in a wooden box in the outside toilet I left the rusty ones along with the order sheets I still have the butcher's hook today in my own kitchen the linney family are buried in the cemetery down cemetery road lower Ince Wigan Lancashire in a family plot I only found the grave by chance also linney square in scholes Wigan was named after the linney family God bless them all!.🌹✊🕊️🙏🇬🇧💎😎👍

Comment by: Susan diggle on 2nd March 2021 at 15:32

My grandad and grandma were landlady and landlord in the 1930’s.
My mum was born in this pub in 1934 when the barrels were rolling in.

Comment by: Michael Priest on 29th August 2021 at 11:42

It is the Fox Inn for sure.

Comment by: Joy Millward on 28th September 2021 at 17:33

Hi everyone, my dad was born in the Bridge Inn, Chapel lane , Wigan in 1914 as was his younger sister and brother. My dads grandfather, Charles Lowe was the landlord at the time and my dads mother Jeannie Lowe was married to Thomas Saunders who helped his father run the Saunders greengrocers business also in chapel lane. My dad died in 2014 (100 yrs old) and he often talked about his life there. I actually still have the tea service that his parents (and grandparents) used in this pub. Not really useable anymore but looks lovely on my dresser.

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