Wigan Album

Amazing that the cobblestone lane survived into the 80s . I think by this time the Coop had been taken over by Trident Electrical Stores . Would Tiffany's still be going or had it become Maxims ? Great photo showing how much things change in a relatively short time .

What was the mock tudor building with the cuppola on the top?

Seems like another Wigan Council masterplan to demolish buildings and not have a plan I'm guessing the buildings on the right made way for road widening?

Brilliant photo! Thanks for sharing

The mock tudor building with the cupola was a shop. It was a reasonably sized shop which sold prams and baby items, I think that it also sold toys. It took all the corner up, with one large shop window on Standishgate and another large shop window on Dicconson Street; the doorway was between the two windows.
It was demolished, along with the shops on each side of it and the other buildings, to make way for the new road which crosses Standishgate and heads up to Scholes.
I remember, there was Brick Kiln Lane (which was also cobbled and is still there) and Uncle Joe's was on this lane. Crossing over the entrance to Brick Kiln Lane, there was Whitesmith's (which is still there), then there was a newsagent and next door to the newsagent there was a sweetshop. I think, there was a furniture shop next to the newsagent. Then, there was the shop with the cupola.
Around the corner and onto Dicconson Street, there were about four more shops, which also had the similar mock tudor above the shop windows. There was definitely a small shoe shop. I remember the shop well because my mum regularly visited the shop. The shop sold my mum's favourite shoes for comfort, which were Clarks' shoes.
I think that there was also an artist's shop, but I am not so sure about this as it was a long time ago.
Further on, past these shops, there was the old Wesleyan School, which closed as a school in about 1964 because it was considered unsafe for children. I think that it became a furniture store.
After the old school, there was, I think, St. John's. Past this building, there were the houses which are still standing.
Such a real shame that those buildings have gone, because they had character and history, something which Wigan town centre has greatly lost in the way of buildings.

Andrew, that was The Square Deal Shop aka Billy Davis', it was on the corner of Dicconson Street and Standishgate. Along the row of shops was where they found parts of the wattle and daub walls dating from the medieval times when the buildings were demolished, the beams etc are stored in what was the schoolroom/police garage behind All Saints church, Mick put on a photo of them but I cannot find it, it may have been on PaD a few years ago. Here's a photo on the Album of the row of shops on Dicconson St and Standishgate, you're right and it was a crying shame that they were demolished as they looked very quaint and full of character as did a lot of the charming buildings that once adorned the streets of the town centre.

https://www.wiganworld.co.uk/album/photo.php?opt=5&id=18946&gallery=Dicconson+Street%252C+Wigan&offset=0

Unforgivable town planning.

Sorry I pressed send without finishing what I had written! Thanks Ian and Cyril great information.

Makes you wonder if the infastructure had survived along with some of these buildings just what a pretty place you would be visiting.

I remember a mock Tudor building where the Electrical shop was - cookers and such.

Yes Veronica, that was Norweb electric showrooms.

Ian, also on Dicconson Street was Clifton Books which closed and later as you mentioned became the art shop which was CC Art, there was also Gordon the Barber, the sweet shop around the corner was Mr and Mrs Thomas, I'd call in there quite a lot for Raspberry Ruffles which he said they sold a lot of, another product he said they sold a lot of was Tiger Nuts, apparently the girls from the Convent had a liking for them.

Ian. I think the shoe shop on Dicconson St was also a chiropodist that had a window display of Dr Scholls sandles.The toffee works at the bottom of Brick Kiln Lane was Westheads.

Ian. I think the shoe shop on Dicconson St was also a chiropodist that had a window display of Dr Scholls sandles.The toffee works at the bottom of Brick Kiln Lane was Westheads.

Cyril, I had a feeling there was a bookshop and a barber's there, but couldn't be that sure. Thanks for reminding me.
What I now remember is that the bookshop was quite small, quite gloomy and packed with books. Did it not also sell secondhand books?
You must have been rich Cyril, because Raspberry Ruffles were expensive.

Jack, you are perfectly correct. My mum was also a person who bought Scholl sandles and I am sure that she had her feet attended to at that shop.
I can't remember the name of the sweetshop, but I can remember that it stayed open until late and it was extremely bright inside in the evening due to the white fluorescent lighting. Additionally, it was packed with jars of sweets and as you entered, the glass counter was on your left and was high, with plates of glass under. I also remember that you could walk to the other end from the door and be served there.

Veronica, the electrical shop you mentioned, which Cyril kindly named, was on the corner of Mesnes Street; it sold cookers and fridges, which filled the shop and left very little room for people to move. There were some stairs at the far end of the shop and downstairs,there was a music basement where you could buy vinyl records.

Jack, I only vaguely remember that there was a large advertisement painted on the brick wall of the building on Brick Kiln Lane which read 'Uncle Joe's...' Possibly, it had never been removed because it was partly worn off and that was back in those days. Maybe, it had once been Uncle Joe's toffee works.

By the way, great photo and wonderful contributions to this insight to Wigan of old.

There was an earlier Norweb shop Ian. I know the one you mean as I got Gas Fire and surround from there in the late eighties. The shop I mean was much earlier it was opposite the old Co-Op building in the photo. There'll be a photo somewhere on Album.

Veronica, the building you are on about was referred to by wiganers as electric showrooms?

Yes that's right Dave J. The Showrooms that I remember in the fifties. (NWEB) ?

Dave, wasn't the Electric Showrooms over near to the Grammar School, where the coaches used to always wait?

Veronica, if it were opposite the old Co-op, then it must have been where those shops were.
I remember the old Co-op well, because one of my weekly jobs was to get the weekly groceries from the Co-op. What is absolutely amazing is, I started going to the Co-op for my mum when I was about five years of age. How times have changed!
The Co-op had a food department and there was a doorway into this department on the side, which would have been on Powell Street.
The old Co-op was a fantastic building, so much in the style of art nouveau and with such high-quality. It had an old style lift similar to the ones you see in films depicting life in the early 1900s, metal supports inside the store (which I believe were made of cast iron), dark wood (possibly, oak) everywhere; it even had a curved corner with large curved glass windows. It certainly should not have been demolished.

Today, some cities would have this iconic building as a museum piece and it would be a listed building.

But, then again, we all know how destructive our governing bodies can be!

Ian, yes he did sell second hand books.

Raspberry Ruffles wasn't all that pricey with being around the same price as other chocolate covered confectionary, and are still made today though by someone other than Jamesons, even though the wrappers have that name on them, tastes change too as I don't like them at all now - finding them much too sweet.

Ian. The gas showrooms were opposite the market square

Veronica, I think the electric showrooms was across the road from the dog ith thatch pub?

I bought some Scholls sandals from the Scholls shop and they were the most comfy footwear I have ever had,I've looked for similar ones everywhere..they were navy blue leather so if anyone knows where they sell them please let me know,I'll be so grateful.

Mr Thomas took over the sweet shop from Emily McKenna who, with her sister, had run the shop certainly since the forties.

That's right again Dave J. On the same side as the mock Tudor building in the photo but further along. I seem to remember a church on the corner as well. Bit hazy though..

One of the four shops in Dicconson St. was Plumbs, selling upmarket TV and Audio products, primarily Bang and Olufssen.
They moved to one of the then new parade of shops on Standishgate, built in the early seventies .

They were expensive products too Derek, though quality as you could tell with the clarity of picture and sound, the only other shops I recall were the credit drapers such as Gunns etc, one house along there I do remember because of those cold war times was one with a sign on the door Wigan Communist Party, I imagined them calling everyone comrade.
Photos of Dicconson St on the Album: https://www.wiganworld.co.uk/album/showalbum.php?opt=5&gallery=Dicconson+Street%2C+Wigan

Veronica that would have been the Wesleyan church, photo here with some good banter & comments: https://www.wiganworld.co.uk/album/photo.php?opt=5&id=30155&gallery=Standishgate&offset=80

Thanks! Cyril, for confirming that. I had a picture in my mind of the shop with a lot of old books in.

Jack. You've jogged my memory. I now remember that I used to go and pay my nan's gas bill there.

Veronica, there was a church on the opposite corner of Dicconson Street - on the left as you entered the street from Standishgate.

DerekB, you are perfectly correct with the audio shop being in the new parade of shops - these shops were opposite C & A. I recall going in to have a look at a Bang & Olufsen Beogram. The shop was something new to me, because it was plush and had the equipment carefully and spaciously arranged. This equipment looked like it had come from Star Trek Enterprise and carried a price that an ordinary working-class kid like me could only dream about.
By the way, back in that particular decade, I didn't buy a Beogram and I didn't dare ask my mum and dad to buy me one for Christmas.

Just looked at the Chapel Cyril, I don't know how I could only just remember it. So much decimated in such a busy town.