These two photos show the area of Pemberton often referred to as 'Up Pem' or 'The top of Pem'.Some of the shops on the right were demolished in the 1970s and replaced by the detached block which can just be seen in the later picture.
The bus stop sign in the older photo reads 'Corporation Bus Stop'. This is because Wigan Corporation's buses and the other services run by Ribble used different stops.
Ribble were not allowed to set down within the Wigan boundaries on outward journeys nor pick up on inward journeys, a situation which only changed with de-regulation in 1986.
Readers
may remember such shops as Graham Fairhurst's and the two Jack Carrington's shops that were situated across the road from each other - one of which was a jewellers and the other a sporting goods shop. Funnily enough, Graham Fairhurst also had another shop about half a mile away.
Food lovers may remember the Albion Chinese restaurant that existed for many years until its closure in the mid 90s and the barbecue shop in the above-mentioned new block of shops.
Due to my lack of photographic skills, the present-day photo has been cobbled together from two photos.
(Cue sarcastic cries of 'No, really?', 'You could have fooled me!' and 'You can't tell!')
1960s
JULY 2000The views show the station buildings at road level, the platforms looking away from Wallgate and the platforms looking towards the station buildings.
The station was refurbished in the 1970s when all the platform buildings were demolished to be replaced with more modern structures and doors fitted to the previously open archways in the booking hall.
Although well patronised, the station is likely to close in the next few years when the controversial 'Transport Hub' scheme is approved by the council as we all know it will be - what Wigan Council wants, Wigan Council gets. (Regardless of whether the people of Wigan want it cf. the JJB stadium, the Robin Park complex, the Saddle Gyratory, the new Tesco supermarket etc.)
Here we see two views of Market Place.The older one was printed in the Wigan Evening Post and is dated 1971, although it is more likely to be late 1970. The later one was taken on July 2nd 2000.
Little appears to have changed in the intervening 30 years. Next fashion shop is in place of the empty shop adjacent to Baker's Jewel Casket while the other shop was demolished and comprises the entrance to the Marketgate shopping centre along with the entrance to Commercial Yard.
Nowadays, the jeweller's shop is no longer also an optician's but , strangely, has an optician's shop next door.
Marketgate was originally known as The Wigan Centre Arcade before being revamped and extended into the then-new Galleries complex which opened in 1990.
Just to provide a point of reference, the photos of the bus in Market Place on the Wigan Corporation Buses page were taken in front of the Greenwood's shop in this photo.
Turning 90 degrees to the left from the above photos we see the Parish Church and, more specifically, the buildings in front of it.The older photo shows Lowe's department store shortly before its closure in 1985. By then, parts of the store had been taken over by the Dixons electrical goods store and the Thomas Cook travel agency.
Subsequently, the buildings were demolished affording - for the first time in over a century - an uninterrupted view of that side of the Parish Church.
Eventually the building shown in the newer photo were constructed. An interesting feature of the new building is the stone lion set into the wall in remembrance of the White Lion pub which used to be on part of the site until its closure in the 60s.
Also shown is the new feature replacing the trees and benches which dated from the 70s.