Photo-a-Day  (Tuesday, 14th February, 2023)

Build em up mi mam would say ,
they all fall down the same old way ,
and when alls done the man will say ,
it's going up , that's right today
Lifes a comic , but twice as daft ,
look at this , and what their at,
they know whats doin , they think they do ,
just as well , these bricks are new .
At least we know it's all in hand ,
built to last , not made of sand,
a hundred years we'll look and say ,
I saw this built , on its first day..

Lesson....How to waste money.

Should be Wigan Ashamed.

Yip Wigan Council love to demolished buildings, the Galleries not that very old the cement hardly dry.
What next, the Grand Arcade shopping centre??
Wigan destroyed.

Proud of what exactly?
I wish somebody could explain…. Most people are staying away as
‘‘ the wall’’ around is keeping most folk away at the moment. I can’t see many returning when that’s gone.

to what will they return? blocks of flats? bowling? cinema? i don't think so

What a shameful, heartbreaking waste of time and money and of good, solid buildings. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Places for folk to live ? Places for people to enjoy themselves ? No thank you very much !!!
They should never have knocked down the old Market Hall if you ask me....

One of the birds round there actually reads'protecting our heritage' !!?? ! You couldn't make it up ! I feel sure that only the apartments will be built in place of the Galleries.

The wagons rumble down Standishgate
Piled with rubble as they take away
The grand old town in dusty clouds ,
But never mind ! Believe ! Be Proud !
They tell us in their metro speak
Amid corruption's fetid reek
As the carbuncles rise row after row ,
Not so Ancient and Loyal now .

They’re trying to turn Wigan into a village it’s no longer the important town it was with the grandest of buildings. That’s what it looks like to me.

It was an impressive structure and seemed well built.

You have got it in one , Poet.

Breaks my Heart to see photos like this !!!
They should never have got rid of the old Market Hall in my opinion , does anyone agree ???

I've said it myself loads of times, it was an act of vandalism...by the way, are we related? Are you one of the Lower Ground Cheethams?

It will be lovely and modern when its all finished

ChrisCheetham 4, I think most people would agree with you, myself included, However, there is a film on youtube, "Wigan Market Hall The Final Days" which was filmed, as it says, during its last days in business, including the very last day. It is quite moving and shows all the old stalls and stallholders we knew so well. The maker of the film interviews the manager, (or someone in authority....I would have to watch it again to check), up in the rafters of the hall, and, if I remember rightly, the manager mentioned problems with the aging building. Also, I believe there were rats in the cellars. However, maybe those problems could have been dealt with. But in the end, it WAS a very old building. The outrage that everyone is feeling at the moment is because the "new" Market Hall that replaced it is a sound, solid building, only about 35 years old, and is being reduced to rubble for some daft scheme that nobody wants and nobody had a choice in. There will always be someone to foresee a "bright, modern Wigan with housing and restaurants and cinemas" but they are not living in Wigan; they are living in Cloud Cuckoo Land.

Nowt up with the old market, it had tradition which new markets can't match. Bury market is fantastic and always busy. It doesn't matter what they built here, you'll never bring back the old type traditional market we all knew and loved.

Money down the grid bring back Wigan Corporation Council.

It was supposedly
“ lovely and modern” in the early 90’s when it had been re built so what’s happened to that???

Calm down Irene.

You are so right,Irene.

Mick, your comment is Déjà vu. Morealess the same comment or words to the same effect were given by us the public in the early 1980s when the artists impressions of the Galleries, and the new Market Hall were released to the public, i.e. - "it all looks to be very nice and modern with faux Tudor styling, covered balconies, some families shopping and a few trees dotted here and there on the drawings, but what will it be like in reality." We all now know what it has become like in reality - 34 Years Old And Now Not Fit For Purpose and being demolished.

So Mick just how long will it be before your "It will be lovely and modern when it's all finished." be deemed Not Fit For Purpose and then be demolished? Knowing the council, then the future folks of Wigan shall either be finding out sooner or by the latest in the year 2057, one thing I do know, that in reality neither you nor myself shall be around to find out.

- Hear Hear, well said Irene,

And despite the rumours there wasn't any rats in the cellars of the original Market Hall, (there may well have been rats around at one time,) only what we called Lancashire Cellar Beetles which fascinated me of how they looked to be very ancient and how strong they were, also how they can get by with eating the mould growing on limestone flags etc,.
https://www.uksafari.com/churchyard_beetles.htm,

There was also an infestation of German Cockroaches which got behind the cladding, and the odd mouse getting in before winter, but these were soon eradicated. The building like all Wigan council buildings hadn't had money spent on it over the years to be maintained properly and so was in a poor state of disrepair.

As Mick says, " It will be lovely and modern when it's all finished." But with no shops. The one being knocked down was lovely and modern in 1987. 35 yrs ago!!!!