The Grand Arcade, a new shopping centre in Wigan, opened for business on March 22. The new development is situated on the site of the former Wigan Casino took 2 years to build and cost £120 million. Stores already open include Debenhams, HMV, Waterstones, Marks & Spencer, River Island, TK Maxx, Monsoon, Next, Bhs and Boots.
Wigan’s Bickershaw Festival has been cancelled. Organiser Chris Hewitt says this is due to his son’s ill health and local opposition. He is hopeful that the event will be held next year.
Wigan’s legendary Bickershaw Festival is to be resurrected later this year. The original festival took place in 1972 and attracted famous bands such as The Grateful Dead, Captain Beefheart, Hawkwind, The Kinks, Donovan and Wishbone Ash.
The festival will take place on the original site at Heron Lodge Farm on Bickershaw Lane on the weekend beginning Friday June 29 2007. The line-up has yet to be finalised but organiser Chris Hewitt is hopeful that it will include top acts such as The Fratellis, The Kooks, Badly Drawn Boy, Doves and Johnny Vegas. Ticket prices and availability will be announced in the near future.
Wigan Athletic chairman Dave Whelan is selling around £50m of shares in JJB Sports in a bid to help the Premiership club avoid relegation. The club are currently in 17th place and just two points above the relegation zone.
The World Pie Eating Championships will take place at Harry’s Bar in Wigan on December 13. For the first time, the annual event includes a vegetarian category. Wigan is widely recognised as the world capital of pies and pie eating.
A Birmingham couple were ejected from the JJB Stadium after being caught having sex in the disabled toilets during the game between Wigan Athletic and Aston Villa. The Wigan Observer reports that staff became suspicious after noticing that the door had been locked for a prolonged period and heard moaning sounds coming from within. The newspaper reports an onlooker as saying ‘It was quite obvious they weren’t disabled’. The game itself ended scoreless.
A PR campaign to capitalise on Wigan Athletic’s first season in the Premiership has been short-listed for the Chartered Institute of Public Relations Local Government Group’s Campaign of the Year award.
The ‘Wigan Premier Town’ campaign was launched last year by Wigan Leisure and Culture Trust, Wigan Council and Wigan Athletic and resulted in an extra 200,000 visitors to Wigan and an injection of £11 million into the local economy.
Wigan-based businessman Dave Whelan has been made a freeman of the town. The owner of Wigan Athletic, Wigan Warriors and JJB Sports received the award at the town hall last night.
A day of frantic activity at the JJB Stadium saw 3 players leave the club and another 3 walk through its doors.
Graham Kavanagh and David Connolly both left for Sunderland while Pascal Chimbonda was sold to Tottenham for a club record of £5 million.
Wigan manager Paul Jewell signed Everton winger Kevin Kilbane, David Cotterill from Bristol City and Portsmouth striker Svetoslav Todorov.