Birkett Bank 1951
Photo: Keith Bowen

Crispin Arms customers taken outside the Crispin Arms, Birkett Bank 1951. The landlord was my father, Jack Bowen seen here in the gleaming white shirt but other names that come to mind are Bill Benson, Tom? Banks, Peter Riley, the Bibby's, Arthur and Norman (owners of the Clarington Haulage Co., Jim Gannon, Jim? Priest, Bill Burgess, other customers but not necessarily present, Bill Sims, Dick Barnes (manager of the Empire Cinema), Peter Clarke, Dick Prescott (Gallipoli veteran), pipe smoking "Long John" (never said much, if anything, but was a genial man who lived at the lodging house in Leader Street, we never knew his real name), Rosie __? always in the Snug taking her snuff. Most of these in the photo had hurried over the boundary line from Ince to Wigan (the Crispin being the first pub) to enjoy the extra half an hour drinking time available on a Sunday lunchtime. It was quite a sight to watch them marching along Manchester Road, as a group, on a Sunday afternoon to enjoy the excellent pint my father prided himself on supplying. Our stay at the Crispin 1950 to 1956 was relatively short but we have very happy memories of the people in this area, they were the "salt of the earth". The photo itself is "leaning" to the left, it should lean to the right but if I corrected it I would have lost a few faces.