Wigan Album

Wish it was still like this.

I spent a lot of time in Wollie as a yongster. I remember Oxleys too. Brings back a lot of memories. Good pic.

I spent a lot of time in the late early 60s, waiting near that lamp post and the doorway just beyond it to the left, my wife spent all her working life at woolies

Aitch, Woolworth's corner used to be the busiest corner in Wigan at one time!

I'm convinced folk used to put their son's names down at birth for a place on the railings at Woollie's corner, the same as they do for MCC membership and Eton College.

What was Oxleys? it looks like it was quite a big shop!

Another fabulous photograph. Where are all the buses? I also spent a lot of time in Woolworths. Not seen a photo with Oxleys in before also good photo of Ritz. Well done Dennis.

It was a department store, but not as posh as Pendlebury's and Lowe's. It sold all kinds of things ... clothing, curtain materials etc.etc.

Great photo of the street just as i rember it.A choice of three buses to Platt bridge never had to wait.

Looks like Wigan were at Wembley again

Before it was Oxleys, it was Pooles clothes shop. I used to be fascinated as a kid with the vacuum pipe cash delivery system..ie: give 'em the money, they put it in a cylinder, then it vanished up the pipe & the cylinder later came back with a bump containing the receipt....Magic..;o)

Art, I remember that well, and guess what, they are bringing that system back in some shops. So that they don't keep a lot of money on the shop floor.

'If I could turn back time'.........
Art , the sysytem you mention was called a' Lansil' system. It was made by a firm in Lancaster and Pendlebury's had one as well.

Oxleys was owned by a Wigan family,it was formley Pooles,same store diffrenet name.My mother worked there ,first Pools then Oxleys through the late 40's to the 70's.Thats where I saw Father Christmas for the very first time.No cars or buses,it lookes like Sunday morning,I can almost hear the church bells!

when I was 15 I started work at Brooks Bros near the underground Lavatories (Pettys Josie)them I moved to Peter Pells. it was in the same position as the shop on the right with GEORGE over the top of it... does anyone know what it was? I thought there was was a pub in this position in the fifties........ now come you lot, prove me wrong :-)

The shop with George over the window was George Munro beer and wines merchant

Was it the ring "o" Bells or Munro's

Dennis --- you really are doing your best to make me home sick !!!.

Gerry, George McCandlish. Not sure of the spelling. Sort of tea/confectioners?
Tricia, the pneumatic cash handling system was Lamson. Still used today - e.g. every Tesco checkout has one. Lots os haospitals use them for transporting samples, medicines, but not blood!

When I got married in 66, I had my suit made to measure at Peter Pells, it cost me £24

i love this photo denis,and aich my sisters worked in woolies in the 60s madeline and pat beckett ,i remember the quew from the ritz all the way round woolies and beyond for tickets to see the beatles,and i loved going in oxleys, i even got my engagement ring from peter james jewelers in station rd.

Great memory stirrer, it really very clean,isn't it.

Josie, ask your sisters if they remember Alice Morris, that was my wife.

In the early 60's you could buy a bag of broken biscuits at Woollies for 6 old pence!. It was pot luck what you got though.

This is my world. This is just as I remember it. Oxleys was a big department store, a lot like Lowes in as much as when you paid your bill the money was sent upstairs in a tube, and a hand written receipt came down the same way.

My Mum (no longer within cuddling distance) used to take me and my little brother (we're now in our fifties) to see Father Christmas every year at Oxleys, and every year it was different. One year, I'll always remember it, we had to get into a space ship (the lift dressed up) to get to the North Pole to see him. It's always remained a magical memory for me. Would you believe that I still have the little manicure set that he gave me?!!

Wigan was so much nicer then. It's a shame what the town planners have been allowed to do. You can see for yourself. Which looks nicer? This picture or that awful Grand Arcade? A town so full of character. The old buildings could have been refurbished instead of knocked down. They wouldnt allow this sort of random decimation in Chester. They're proud of their town and it shows.

It makes me feel really sad when I go to Wigan now. There's hardly anything I recognise as the old town. The Galleries is always empty downstairs, and I dont think it will be long before they pull that down and put something else in its place. We've lost the old arcade, the Legs 'o Man, all the fab little quirky shops, and the Weind looks scruffy. The outside market isnt a patch on what the old one was, and the fish markets all but gone. Clubs and pubs the full length of King Street where all the solicitors used to be. King Street strewn in takeaway rubbish and god only knows what from Friday and Saturday nights. Clubs open until 4am.

No, its not the Wigan I remember, and its not nostalgia colouring my memories. It really was a nicer place.

And so say all of us, Christine.

agree with Mick ,spent many a satday afternoon lent on them railiigs (when there was gap )in the mid sixties watching the talent go by.

Hear hear Christine.

You are so right,Christine.The so-called town planners probably live nowhere near the town.

In reply to Jed. The shop in the photo was Munro's - The Ring 'o' Bells was a tiny pub just around the corner in Millgate which (I think) was owned by Munro's.

iv'e enlarged this pic to see what was showing at the ritz all i thought i can see is the beast might be compleatly wrong though ? this film was in 60s about two sisters who lived together and they had kept theire brother in the celler for years beryl reed was one of the sisters good actress dont even remember ending ,what does anyone else think .

harry, I too remember seeing Father Christmas for the first time at Oxley's! Good memories!

It looks to me that the film showing at the Ritz is 'NIGHT OF THE DEMON'. You can see the name DANA ANDREWS who starred in it over the title. 1957

You're spot on Cathy B....I think you've been to Specsavers!

Josie you were thinking of 'The beast in the cellar' it efinitely says night of the demon though :)

its a shame all this was demolisheed for the grand arcade

The Ritz, kissin in the back row of the movies on a Saturday night with you. Lovely memories.

In the 90’s there was a little record store opposite the cinema…. Anyone know what it was called ?

My mum worked at munros when she was a young girl she loved it there. You could have free drinks as you worked. Her tipple was britvic orange.

We got our first 3 piece suite from Oxleys in 1975ish. Brown Brocade. Thought we were posh. The photo above must have been after Wareing and Gillows shut as they had the corner shop.