Wigan Album

It looks so much better than it does now.

Looking at all the shops there and the ones we cant see futher down Greenough st and Scholes but remember very well the expensive shopping arcades have a lot to answer for.

great [pic thanks for the memories Ron.

I think this photo was taken from the end of the street we used to live up. That was Mint Court.

It was a nothing short of a criminal act destroying Scholes. Am I right in assuming that the guy who instigated that destruction took his own life because of what he'd done? Not only destroying Wigans heritage but communities.

This looks very much like looking down Scholes. With the bus stop on the left to go into Wigan. That was the furniture shop near the bus stop & if my memory serves me right a butchers close by. Used to buy knitting wool from the shop at the corner of Platt Lane & Scholes. They had so many patterns etc for the handy women around Scholes. Nice shops & friendlier than the new Wigan shops, of today.

Dorothy, do you remember if the shop was run by a Ellen Ashton?

The shop on corner of Platt Lane is Jesie Connah wallpaper shop on opposite corner Bannister' draper's next door John Mc'Curdys store a furniture shop

stood at that bus stop a good few times to go home to new springs after visiting my grandparents in platt lane

Had many a cup of tea from Maggie Lewis, or her sister, when working the Scholes beat. They had the butchers futher down Scholes from the top of Greenough Street

What a great photo, pity it's a little out of focus. My Grandparents and family , Ernie and May Hankin lived at Mint Cottage, Mint Court. The newspaper shop when I knew it was Woods then Louie Lloyd took it over probably at the time this was taken. The Ealr of Balcarres pub at the corner of Molyneux St is the only building on this part of Scholes still there (what a criminal act it was destroying Scholes) although it wasn't the Earl of Balcarres then just The Balcarres I think. I remember the area so well. I lived in Golborne St (off Platt Lane) then Scholefield Lane before moving to enemy terrority for Scholesers, Whelley, in 1964. I used to wait for mum coming home at the bus stop when she worked at De Havellands in the late 50s. Joe and Paula Howard had the hardware store, again on the corner of Molyneux St and moved to Liverpool Rd Hindley later on. Walked Scholes many times with St Catharine's on Walking Days as a young lad and also with the 5th Wigan BB.

Congratulations Ron on posting such a nostalgic photo. This is what we are "looking" for when we occasionally pass the area in our cars but of course it's simply not there - only in our heads. It just makes you feel the loss all the more and leaves you with an empty and exasperated emotion that you can't explain to younger brethren just what a great community lived here.

I've lived down Platt lane all my life, I was born in 1985. I'd just like to say I can't believe it used to look like this not so long before I was born and what the hell happened? Can't believe what it looks like now compared to back then. Love this picture, it makes me feel sad how everything was knocked down.

jessie connah was my Nan i do not remember the shop but have lots of stories from the family. thank you

That was my bedroom above Connahs wallpaper shop !

What an absolute corker of a photo. Joey howrards diy shop, I think his wife was Polish she had jet black hair with bright red lipstick, a bit scary when I was little

The bus stop in front of McCurdy's is where I caught the coach to ROF Euxton. Every weekday morning for 5 years, half a sleep at 6 15 in the morning, mid sixties. Summer and Winter....I wish we could go back to that time....young and carefree.

My Grandad and his parents, Grandparents, Great Grandparents all lived in Scholes - Caunce Road and surrounding area. I was born after all the major “development”, it’s a disgrace all those buildings and communities completely destroyed, not just there but around Wigan town centre. Would have loved to have seen what it was like back then

My husband’s great grandfather’s family were clog makers and shoe repairers in Scholes for over 100 years. Their address was 233 Scholes, which I believe was near the junction with Platt Lane. The shop was definitely still there in 1939 and I believe his great grandad’s brother Henry Ince ran it after his father (also Henry) died in 1944. The first reference I have is 1825, then every census from 1841 until 1911 and then the 1939 register.

The butchers was John Bunting’s, I was sent there on Saturdays by my Mam, part of my shopping trail was to get fruit and veg from George Conroy’s on Schofield Lane, it was a weight for a young lad carrying spuds and the like back to Higham St. I agree with the fact it was criminal to destroy Scholes

When I was a kid, we use to live in Scholes, at 242 Scholes, and my grandma was at 244 Scholes, and next to my nans was a butchers. My dad use to work for Hollands the toffee wholesaler on great acre, and just at the back of our house. It's a great picture, from back then, I remember a newsagents Hiltons across the road from us, Jamesons store, cause I went to school with there daughter Carol, a wool shop, Sheringtons diy store, which I always went to for stuff as a kid, you know wood for making go carts with, and a toffee shop across road, god it takes me back to happy days, we were in Scholes, and my nan was in whelley, last house on Scholes, you can see the sign on the road, Scholes - Whelley border near the green telephone exchange box on main road, we had to move to Durham Street, cause they were making new plans, but the lot were me and nan use to live, nothing was ever built there, I was really happy back then, pity there no photo a bit further up looking down Scholes, be nice to see the old house again, it's a great picture Ron, good old days.

My grandma had a baby clothes shop in Scholes where I was born also she ran the old picture house her name was Peggy Williams my dad is George

Does anyone remember the Scholes Conservative ( ! )Club over a shop in Scholes, I was at a wedding reception there on Grand National day 1961, Nicklaus Silver won. I was 11 yrs old at the time.
Can’t recall the name of the shop.jwhat

I love WW but every now and then a picture takes me by surprise and makes me feel sad.
This picture and its now lost, once close knit bustling community is one of them. But thanks for the memory.

I’ll always say Scholes had its heart and soul ripped out and completely annihilated. If a bomb had dropped on Scholes things couldn't have been worse! I may sound melodramatic but the community was destroyed.