Wigan Album

Makinson Arcade was refurbished about 1983 with tiled floor replacing paving slabs, and plants installed. There wasn't even any gates until then so anyone could take a short cut even in the dead of night. There weren't even any stumps to stop vehicles going through. I'll never forget seeing one fool in 1979 driving a battered Ford Corsair going through late at night from Standishgate to the old market hall in Woodcock Street.

Mr X, that's probably why the bollards were put in, although not sure when this happened

My husband worked on this arcade when it was refurbished.He was on the roof, doing all the lead work.Seems like yesterday.

Edna: I bet their was quite a few on the roof doing the lead work over a period of time.

No John G believe it or not there were only two of them.

One night in the late 1970s, a PC I worked with disturbed a man 'up the ramp', on the roof of the Centre Arcade, trying to break into the building through one of the delivery doors.
The offender tried to escape by jumping over a parapet wall onto adjoining rooftops, but only went a few steps before he went through the glass roof of the Makinson Arcade, which he had taken for a solid pitched roof in the darkness.
He fell a good 20 feet, and sustained fairly severe injuries.
Probably did him more good than whatever sentence he later received at court.