Photo-a-Day  (Friday, 18th September, 2020)

Nice photo again Dennis, I too like these before and present shots. Tell me was there a temperance bar on the other side of Powell Street, maybe in the late forties early fifties. I went in there with my granddad Whittle around that time.

The Lancashire Evening Post office until they moved to Brock Mill just off Wigan Lane. The paper for Wigan was renamed Post and Chronicle in 1965 but was always a subsidiary of the Preston paper.

Weeds, metal shutters & grafitti give anywhere a rundown look. Presumably the pavements are the responsibility of Councils, money would be better spent on a bit of tidying up rather than a 'head' .... oops, I forgot, that was a freeby !

That's a real then & now Dennis!
The scene could be repeated across the UK.
Lancashire Evening Post? Still around, but a shadow of its former self. At the time of the old photo, Wigan read "th'Observer."

I remember when the Lancashire Evening Post window displayed all the Whit Monday Walking Day photos.
Was next door the Labour Club as I recall going to two wedding receptions there in the late sixties and early seventies?

What an eyesore it is now compared with back then. I love the cars! Thanks for letting us see the before-and-after photos, Dennis. I know which I prefer. xx

Horrible and tatty.

Yes it was Veronica - the 'Central Labour Club' - had my 21st there!!

Veronica, yes it was The Central Labour Club . I can remember looking at photographs at this location.

Dennis very creative 'the now and then' aspect of your work

Thank you both, Malcolm and Tom. I don't suppose it still is, if not what is there now? Sorry to be a pain! I remember it was a lovely big room where the receptions were held.

Irene and Julie, I agree 100%. You can go to nearly any town in Northern England and you'll find the same picture, dirty, untidy filthy dumps.
Thanks for the pic's Dennis.

Love the curves on the old car, the modern day photo makes Wigan look like what you would see in a third world country.
Just look at that abandoned road sign and the Do Not Park scrawl on the shutters

Beautiful dreamer where are you now ,
I’m back in my Wigan and wondering how ,
Where did my town go
What did they do ,
I woke up this morning now everything’s new .
Beautiful dreamer this makes me sad ,
Wasn’t like this when I was a lad ,
Though we had nothing and nowt much to save ,half loaf or sugar to neighbours we gave .
Beautiful dreamer my town is now new ,
Young uns they like it this may be true ,
I may be passed it , old and now grey ,
The Wigan I once knew is now yesterday .
Still I have memories I keep in my head ,
Of the town I remember and with that e......nough .....said .

Veronica it's a snooker/pool hall and bar now, well has been for some time.

Derek, there was a Temperance Bar and it is mentioned on this site, however two names are listed as it being Barrow's and also Molly Hammond's, so which is correct I don't know.

The vehicles outside the papers offices are to the right Austin Tourer, Ford E83W 10 cwt and Reliant three wheeler 10cwt.

Greenough St Labour club, as it was then called, is now The Snooker club Veronica. Its not a good image for people coming through the traffic lights facing. Especially if they have not been that way before.It gives a bad impression of Wigan.

Thanks for the info Cyril and Edna. It was a very popular venue for weddings. Edna I went to Agnes's wedding reception there, I think it was 1968 and also Theresa's in '74 . They were both lovely receptions.

Veronica, did Agnes get married at St Patrick's. I didn't realise the reception was in Greenough St club.

Yes she did Edna, she got married before I did. About 12 months before.

Thanks Cyril for the info, I don't know much about the place at all. Just remember going there, and it must have been in the early forties cos my granddad Whittle died in 1943. So Ancestry .com said.

Greenough st labour club thats where my mother went every monday night to the domino drive in the 50s to win tins of peas and beans or a cabbage. life was a lot simpler then