Made famous by its reference in George Orwell’s book, Wigan Pier is a wharf on the Leeds-Liverpool Canal. The area was redeveloped in the 1980s and one of the warehouses transformed to house the Way We Were, a museum about Victorian life in Wigan. It closed in 2007 due to low visitor numbers.
The Trencherfield Mill is a cotton mill built in 1907. It has recently been converted into apartments but its ground floor still houses the world’s largest working steam engine. The Trencherfield Mill Engine is currently open to the public on Sundays.
The Orwell is a popular pub that hosts live music events and comedy nights and also shows live Premiership football. The Wigan Pier nightclub, one of the premier venues in the UK for bouncy house music, closed at the end of 2011.
Wigan Pier is located at the southern end of Wigan town centre, between the train stations and Robin Park.
Visitors can walk or cycle along the Leeds and Liverpool Canal towpath to Pennington Flash (7 miles).
Why were they allowed to close down the best museum I have ever visited?
Its closed down.. But still signposted!
What a shame The Way We Were had to close; it was one of the best museums I ever visited.
Despite being signposted from the M6 there is nothing open or of interest at Wigan Pier
Despite the museums, etc. being closed, the attraction is still signposted from around Wigan!