Photo-a-Day  (Sunday, 15th January, 2023)

The sorry state of what was a nice hotel .Is it still used for asylum seekers or is it boarded up and in a state of disrepair?

The Grand Hotel looking very sad. We had our wedding reception there in 1958.

Not so grand anymore.

When I see photos like this I start to think back about all the mill girls who have walked up that hill with the the smell of uncle joes mint balls coming from behind and then the aroma of the scent coming from posh women entering the grand hotel.

The times that I'd walked past or frequented the Grand Hotel (a misnomer if ever there was) I never saw any posh women nor was there any aromas of as you say - scent, there was just the usual heavy aroma of grease laden air mixed with stale beer and fag smoke. Though further up Hallgate near the All Saint's Tavern there were always a few gaudily dressed women shrouded in a mist of hypnotic and enticing perfume, but they'd be looking for men to buy them a drink in the Tavern.

It’s such a shame the hotel has seen far grander days. Many wedding receptions have been held there in days gone by. It must have been one of the grandest buildings in its time you can see that beyond its demise. I wonder if it’s not too late to be rescued …. I seem to remember it was given over to illegals and that’s been the ruin of it sadly.

Photos like this don't do much to promote a town which has always had such a rich industrial heritage. The Grand has obviously long lost its grandeur, but Wigan is much more than this sad photograph.

Cyril are you struggling to find anything to say about good old Dorning st.
Ive just found this Transfield's New Royal Circus, Dorning Street, Wigan, Lancashire http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/Wigan/TransfieldsRoyalCircusWigan.htm#
Transfield’s New Royal Circus was not a great success and survived for less than ten years; years that included many closures. Situated in Dorning street on the site of the now demolished CO-OP warehouse, the building was advertised in March 1891.

If I had a silver sixpence every time I walked up and down that street on my way to work. WPC that pub you refer to is the one we saw Tom Jones coming out of, then unknown, he was appearing at The Ritz that night.

Looks like they had some good acts on down historical Downing st, I would have loved to see Miss Nellie Baily riding her horse.
The handsomest and most costly Iron and Wood building ever erected in Lancashire
Now Open For the Season
The greatest success ever known in Wigan
Sunday Next March 9th. And during Week.
First appearance in Wigan of:-
Miss Nellie Baily
The Greatest of all Lady Riders.
First appearance of Frisco
The Funniest Clown in the World.
Splendid Stud of Horses and Ponies.
Prices of admission 2s 1s 6p 1s and Gallery 4d
Illuminated Performance every Saturday at 2.30. Doors open at 2. Doors open every evening at 7.15.
Carriages ordered, Afternoons 4.15; Evenings 10.15.
Manager Mr P Adair.
Fresh Novelties Every Week”.

Looks like quite a plain brick building beneath the peeling render and applies woodwork.

That cluster of downpipes and drains has to be retrofit. Surely nobody would design it to look like that, or would they?

The Adams Family, would consider that to be a beautiful hotel, and a wonderful place to stay.

They can waste thousands demolishing a 30 year old building that cost thousands to erect and wasn’t needed in the first place yet leave this ugly heap of Dickensian brick and lime mortar to fall down of its own accord … Typical .
Now try telling me we’re not governed by Martians .

Redboots - I agree with you, a plain brick building that matches the chimneys.
The render is awful.

Now Mick, how did you know I was a pub crawler - hic, I imagined that you'd have uncovered some historical facts about the Grand Hotel, but then your not far off with a circus. Frisco the clown must have stayed behind and become the general manager at Wigan Co-op.

Not only Nellie there's Madame Vera mounted on her wonderful Irish Jumping Horse Micky Free, wonder if she's the same Vera and her two handsome Thoroughbreds, Mustif and Utiff, and there's Mr Carter's Performing and Leaping Dogs, there's some good acts on there.
Transfield's New Royal Circus is one of George Richmond's excellent Wigan music hall, theatre and entertainment articles. http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/Wigan/TransfieldsRoyalCircusWigan.htm

Linma, wonder what Tom Jones thought about the All Saints Tavern, I ventured in once and that was enough, all those who had been turfed out of The Ship for having prices on their shoe soles must have ended up there, and they must have been in Boots and Debenhams having a good spray of the perfume samplers, the air was that thick with it you could taste it in the beer.

I was a chef there in 1974