Photo-a-Day  (Wednesday, 16th September, 2020)

Good idea showing now and then. Doesn't look that much different at first glance apart from the JD building. It's what lies behind and beyond though and what we know...

I agree with Veronica. It's what's behind the camera that's changed. We have lost so much character in Wigan and all we have gained in Millgate is the Horrible Head....the face that sunk a thousand shops. I'm glad I went in The Welfare Clinic and the original Swimming Baths as a child and yes, even the notorious Ship pub as I got older, albeit only once! I love the before-and-after photos, Dennis. Thankyou.

I do not like Wigan town centre any more,one shoe shop, no Woolworths,no British Home Stores,no art shop in Mesnes St..plenty of Lego type buildings that could be anywhere..we have certainly lost our own character..nowadays it looks like any other town...I'm so glad I had my childhood and teenage years in the old town.

JD Sports sell some amazing stuff that Wigan youngsters love, I also think the Horrible Head that Wigan got free is great and if you sit down next to it it will make you think about the miserable old Wigan town that used to exist around that area, you can also walk down to the state of the art swimming baths and sit in the warm and cosy cafe and watch Wiganers keeping in tip top condition.
The real reason why there is no Woolworths, and no British Home store is because Wiganers stopped shopping in,

Couldn't agree more Irene,Veronica and Maureen.

Look at the centre apex roof building in the new and old photo - both mock Tudor beams. In the new photo, the building to the right similarly clad. Not so in the old one.
A bit of gentrification has gone on.
Wigan centre was unique. Unlike St Helens, totally different from Bolton.
Most town centres will have their work cut out to recover from Covid 19, home working etc. It was a growing problem pre lockdown. A major issue now.

Mm Progress is over used many times.
Progress.....Development towards an improved or more advanced condition.
The only progress I can see is street lighting.....I need a sherry.

Ive just been informed that the Wigan man with the stick walking down Millgate was captured stood in the Market place on Photo-a-Day Saturday, 23rd February, 2019

Mick, Woolworths and BHS closed EVERYWHERE, not just in Wigan. The firms closed down. It had nothing whatsoever to do with Wiganers' shopping habits. You are entitled to you opinion on "The Head" and so am I .... I'm certainly glad to learn from you that we got it free...I'd hate to think we'd paid for it! As you are a bit older than me, you obviously DO remember the Millgate of old but don't view it in the same nostalgic way that I do, and prefer the modern Wigan. Again, that is a matter for personal choice, to which every one of us is entitled.

Such a loss of character in both directions, seem to remember a small jewelry shop nearly opposite Tickles, of course Tickles was a fabulous shop to browse through, an absolute gold mine of odds and ends, if you could not find what you needed in Tickles it didn’t exist!
Of course time has moved on in Wigan, only got my magical memories now of the passed character that was Wigan.

The shop that isn't clad in the old photo was Makinson's ironmongers shop before Boots took it over and now Halifax.

The Ship Inn had interior furnishings and fittings of architectural and historical importance, sadly all those were torn out when it became another so called 'Fun Pub,' hence only the front facing was regarded to be saved. Aye, I'll join you with an Amontillado Garry.

Bloody hell Mick, it took him a long time to get there. That guy with the stick.

Those three buildings straight ahead could tell a few tails.

Garry has a point.

We should all start to save our local corner shops.

Irene I know Woolworths and BHS closed EVERYWHERE, and that is because people including Wiganers didnt like what they were selling and stopped shopping there>
You say you went into the notorious Ship pub when you got older, but only once, was this because you met your husband in there.
But having said all that I do miss Liz Elastic shop were I could buy lassie for my pea shooter

Wigan of old was much better for everything. Dancing, Cinema's, ordinary pubs and clubs, coffee bars etc.It was alive at weekend's with young people enjoying the night out.Im so glad I was a teenager in the 60s.

Cyril, I have seen some photos of the interior of The Ship in the forties/fifties somewhere, full of smoke and atmosphere. I thought they were on Wigan World Album but I have looked and they are not there. Maybe they were on facebook but I just can't remember. Mick, I was 15 when I started going out with my husband,
and he was 17, so neither of us was old enough to go in The Ship. I went into The Ship with a female friend years later, just out of curiosity, as it was such a part of Wigan's history and I'm glad I saw it. I too miss Liz Elastic's shop ....we all do. Incidentally, when I met my husband he worked at Sawbridge's butchers in Commercial Yard, another much-missed Wigan thoroughfare. We have lost so much. They built The Galleries and The Grand Arcade to compensate for the historic places that they razed to the ground but they will never be able to replace what we lost. As I said before, you are entitled to your opinion and I am entitled to mine,

Mick, in the early 1970s I was a bit apprehensive of going in the Ship Inn with all the tales, but I found it to be a very pleasant pub and they served an excellent pint of beer, I would then call in there for a couple of drinks when in town along with a few other pubs, I'd be in the snug at the side, there was a large lounge where a group of women would be sat, though I don't think they were that inclined, there was always a young man sat with them and all the time I was in there he could be heard shouting out with a very camp voice - "Ooh Kitty, you are a one."

The courtesans I accidentally found out used the All Saints Tavern which was a right dive with blood stains on the walls, I ignorant of the place went in once ordered a pint then sat and looked around at those walls and women - supped up and quickly left.

Irene you dont have to keep saying that your entitled to your opinion and I am entitled to mine.
Cyril when I first went into the Ship I was told that the women would sit cross legged and had the price for a quickie written on the bottom of their high healed shoes,
I was looking down just to see if I could see how much it was, and I saw a label stuck on one shoe so I dropped my cig packet and had a look as I picked it up, it said Freeman Hardy & Willis £4.99.

Did they chuck in between them Mick? £1.66 each?

Yawn. I'm entitled to yawn listening to Mick.