CHINESE

CAN ANYBODY REMEMBER THE HAPPY PALACE AND PACIFIC OCEAN RESTAURANTS ON MARKET STREET GOIN FOR A MEAL AFTER PUBS CHCKED OUT

Happy Palace started off in the Royal Arcade, up some stairs, then the Pacific Ocean opened up on Market Stree along with the Indian Restaurant, Azmir Manzil. Loved them all, but not after the pub. We went in early to get the places more or less to ourselves.

Happy Palace was the First chinese restaurant in Wigan.
Opening in Market St in approx 1957/8.Head waiter T'ing Qa, who I used to have a drink with at the Emp late friday dances

Brought back some memories there mollie m, I can remember the restaurant up the stairs in the Royal Arcade and when as kids I along with my sister and cousin would go in for a tea or coffee and then pinch a load of sugar lumps to eat on our way home. While on Market St didn't the Happy Palace later began to be nicknamed Sweaty Betty's? It then moved to Upper Dicconson St for a while before closing. The man who ran Manzil's Indian now has his own restaurant on High St Standish, Taste of Bengal.

Ali (as he's known) also has the spice lounge up the weind, as well as having the Taste of Bengal at Standish.
Still get the xmas card to this day.

Spice Lounge is not in the Wiend but in Bretherton Row I believe !

Remember when Jimmy was the head waiter in the "Pacific Ocean", before he opened the takeaway in Wigan Lane?
He never forgot a face that lad

Ah! Jimmy!

me and her used to frequent pacific ocean regularly,
got good friends with Jimmy often used to see him in morrisons when shopping
always had a smile on his face

The Wiend, Bretherton row, Flax mill, .......so what, we all know where it is. No need for you to 'BELIEVE!'

My aunty took me to the Happy Palace when it first opened. We ordered two coffees which when they came were ice cold. Never having been in a Chinese restuarant before we didn't know if this was normal so we just paid and left them.
How soft were we?

Remember going in there drunk one night with boyfriend and about four other lads,they carried me in ,ate,then carried me home and I didn't even know I'd been in the restaurant till they told me the next day. OH HAPPY DAYS

I used to frequent both places with my mates when the nightclubs shut, never remembered what we had eaten, too drunk, I went in the "P" and "O" one night with my girlfriend and we ordered bread and butter with our meal, they brought us bread, with "JAM" on!!??. Never been given jam butties in a restaraunt before, or since! .

hi con sec , yea I used to work at smailes butchers and used to deliver meat that was 1967 boy was it busy .

What about Swetty Bettys?

Hi, clutching at straws here I know, but do any of you happen to remember a worker of Oriental origin at any of the Oriental/Indian restaurants of that era (1967) who has the Christian name' Max' (not sure about that though!) He had a brief relationship with a Jean Melling, (formally Jean Williams) .. Desperately trying to trace this 'worker' & this is the only info we have to go off! Also do you know if the old owner of the Pacific Ocean 'Jimmy' is still around? He may hold some vital info for us ..

I remember the pacific ocean, in 1962 when I left school I started my first job as a butcher's apprentice for J.MORRIS&SONS,FROG LANE,WIGAN, IT was one the owners Brian who got the contract of suppling meat, one of things I dreaded was every time we went to deliver"charlie would ask us were is my BULL's PIZZLE I think he meant penis but we used to have a laugh explain that we only get bull's around xmas time another was he was a terrible payer he would try everything under the sun to fob you off ,in the end though we learned we would first collect the money, then and only then deliver the meat ,happy days of a butcher's lad in WIGAN.

I got a chicken fu yung from the Chinese, it was horrid

I rang them up and told them their chicken was rubbery

ahh fanku velly much they replied

I thought those two chinese places for years where Olympic training centres,i personally never saw so many fine runners.

What happened to Jimmy not seen him for years good guy

many moons ago used to supply jimmys takeaway with mushrooms started selling them on my bike wi baskets on ,my hubby worked on a farm and used to get them from mushroom farm close by,later got a scooter could take more then to other taeaways ,but jimmy wanted 30 boxes a night ,thats how popular he was ,if only id had a van and could drive .still have my id badge wbc id applied for with my photo on, this was in the seventies

Jimmy died a couple of years ago,shame as he was a nice chap

When there used to be brassband contests at the drill hall
me and my mate would go across to the pacific ocean got talking to a chef he took us round the kitchen was very clean enjoyed the meals we had there.

Hi do any of you know the whereabouts of Ting Qa? The former head waiter at The Happy Palace. Or any details of any of the other staff from Happy Palace. Trying to trace anyone who worked there in the late '60s.

Didn't know Jimmy had passed away. So sad . He used to be such a friendly person

Didn't know Jimmy had passed away. So sad . He used to be such a friendly person

Betty and Ronnie moved from close to where the court house is now situated.Had many a meal sat with Ronnie when I briefly had the Crofters, Previously wasn't it the Happy Palace?

I think at lunchtime it was 2s 6d for a three course lunch. And I am sure skinned alsations were once found in the fridges!

You could stand your spoon up in the mushroom soup. I use the term mushroom very lightly.

People used to say they had "Alsatian bunah" and" kit- E- kat korma " on the menu at pacific ocean Indian restaurant, lol !!!!

Pacific Ocean was a Chinese, lol!!!