John, your memory of P J Proby being cancelled and the then unknown Tom Jones was his replacement is identical to my story. My friends and I also had tickets for that show and we demanded our money back as well. If only we knew then what we know now! :0) On the right of that picture where it says Warehouses, that was originally Oxley's store which more or less ran the full length of Station Road. I can still smell the wax polish on the wooden floors and they creaked as you walked over them. It sold all sorts of linens. blankets, curtains - just about anything made of fabric - and it was probably one of my most favourite shops when I was a teenager. Thank you so much for this wonderful history, of the cinemas, all of which I remember well - well - not the ones before I was born in 1949, but certainly of the 50s and 60s as I lived on the continuation of King Street - Darlington Street - where dad had his shop and, as a part time job, mum cleaned the Palace steps which were white with a red edging. Later, in 1965 I got a job on King Street right opposite the County Playhouse. It is so very sad to see they all went downhill over time, but they do still hold wonderful memories for me, so thank you again for the time and effort you put into making this lovely piece of history of our town.
I had my first 2 dates with my wife in the late 90s, at the little cinema that was in pemberton. If I remember rightly we watched a really depressing film with micheal Keaton and Nicole Kidman, think it was called my life, and about a family man dying of cancer. Then we watched interview with the vampire, or it may have been the other way round. Went to the main cinemas in the centre of Wigan a few times over the years from being a small child, to a teenager, had a few dates there too Remember going to the main cinema watching rocky 4 with a bunch of people from school.
This is a very interesting post, thank you. Such fine and elegant buildings, what a pity that most of them were not properly maintained and cherished for the sake of the town's heritage and character. What do we have today - carparks and mostly concrete and glass boxy horrors with no charm whatsoever, at least the grassy little square in front of the John Bull is rather pretty.
You're right Jemmy. Those in Ince, Hindley, Pemberton etc weren't IN Wigan but, as the narrator said, they were in the surrounding districts of Wigan. I remember the Carlton (which became the Sportsmans' Club), but only because the family moved to Pemberton and my elder brother used to go there on Saturday nights. :)
