Wigan Album

Conroys went bankrupt.........Coz someone kept nickin' their boxes..;o)

My father, Walter Latham and his cousin (I think) Walter Halliwell, used to talk about the Conroy family and their business facing the Market Square in Wigan. I'can't be sure of any detail, and unfortunately no family members are with us to shed some light on this.

Great comment Art. I have always wondered how my parents came to have the box ? We found it in my Dad's garage when clearing out & decided to give it a good home, its well looked after !

Thanks for the great photo Helen.
My grandfather was one of the Conroy Brothers.They all took on seperate shops but the wholesale side of the business was jointly owned.
My grandads shop was on Market Street.
My dad grew up there over the shop until my grandad died when the other brothers bought his share out of my grandma.
If you return the box to me I'll let you off with a caution.

Yes Conroy's warehouse was on Hope St, side of The Park Hotel and the rear of The Market Hotel, where the fabric shop and Greggs Bakery is now. Didn't they move to Marus Bridge Wholesale Park in the early seventies and then wasn't a bank was built there?

Yes Cyril they did wholesale from marus Bridge up to the 70s.
My dad's cousin Horace Conroy ran the last sole trader business in the old Market Hall till his death in the late 70s(?).

Its so nice that an old box can get memories flowing and talk of good old days and loved ones gone.

Me again..I remember conroys very well, it took the whole corner of Marsden St from the Market Hotel, along Hope St right up to the Park Hotel. All open plan easy access, closed down by shutters, a vey busy place..

Its nice to have that information Mark, thanks & glad you enjoyed the nostalgia Mr Ex-pat.
I would let the box go back to Wigan, (with or without a caution!) if I knew it was going to a museum or something...does Wigan have a museum ? I wouldn't want it to be dumped in a cupboard somewhere & not see the light of day again, as were some 'papers' my Grandpa Bryson left to the Wigan Archives when he died in 1962. ' The Bryson Papers ' (?) About 3 or 4 yrs ago we enquired about them, asking if we could see the papers & maybe find out what they were all about, we were told that they had not been collated yet.......since 1962 ?!?

Helen I think I wold be inclined to keep it along with the above comments. Your own Wigan History - especially since it has been in your family for so long.

I worked for Horace and Marion Conroy on their stall in the market hall in the 70's. I think Horace died in the late 80's and Marion in 1996. I also have connections with Mrs Conroy from the Market St. warehouse, she was a great family friend of my late father and his sister. She once stored a bedroom suite at the warehouse for us and I remember going to get it with my dad.

ASshfield-would the Mrs.Conroy from Market Street be "Minnie Conroy" if so that was my grandma.Sadly she died before I was born,it must have been early 1950s.

No Mark. It would have been about 1965 when I went there with my dad. Sorry I didn't know her first name. I'll try and post a photograph of her.

When I left school my first job was at Conroys in the office at the back of the wholesalers, it was tiny, just enough room for two desks with all those ledgers. The man who did the accounts was like someone from Victorian times with his specs on the end of his nose and doing the accounts in pen and ink. i used to work the old switchboard and i loved going around the market hall collecting money from the fruit and vegetable stalls.i think Conroys had land at Parbold that they used grow produce. Good memories of a good boss.

We too have one of the Conroy Bros. boxes as our Auntie Maisie was a Conroy, married to Brian whose family owned the business.After Maisie died three years ago we found these boxes in the stables and they now live in Suffolk

Helen, sad to tell you that my hubby Mark passed away in 2019. But two years previously he came across a coveted Conroy Bros box at a local auction and bought it for the princely sum of £11. Needless to say it takes pride of place in our home. :)

Hello I'm Kate Conroy. My mum and dad were Horace and Marian. I have lost contact with so much history as I have been in Spain for 50 yrs. Could some near family get in touch please!

My grandparents were Edmund and Hannah Conroy. Conroy and Sons 68 market street. My mother Patricia married William Giles US Air Force. Fond memories of our numerous visits. Lovely home above the shop. Stopped by years ago, it was an Age Concern.

Hello Kate Conroy, I think we may be second cousins as my Father, Peter, had a Cousin called Horace. Did Horace have a fruit market stall?
Ann Cronin, were your grandparents in fruit? I don't know all the Conroys but quite a few were in fruit.