How times have changed when I can now sit here and say I'd never care again to go on a night out to wigan.
Many years ago, Wigan's nightlife used to be among the best in the UK. Full of variety and fun, it really was a place that had something for everyone! Wigan Pier nightspot was once the UK's largest bounce club. Jumpin' Jaks really was the best party in town, Liquid would have you on it's weird shaped dance floor within a few minutes of you going in and the hub was your late night r'n'b venue that could keep you going until the sun began to rise.
These days, everything has changed, and it's not for the better, as I found out first hand, why, last night.
Friday 10/10/14 and a friend of mine invited me along for a few drinks in Wigan town center. We arrived via taxi at Wigan Wallgate train station, which of a night turn's into every out of town taxi firm's pick up and drop off point. We walked up with the other girls and some decided that they needed the cash machine at the post office. 2 of us said about how we needed the toilet and we're walking past "Lime Bar", which yes, used to be Baa Bar, but since they pulled out of wigan, a firm took over the venue, sold off half the building and basically imitated Baa Bar plc. It's easy to see why they only had in a hand full of customers at the time, as we were shouted at by the doorman, that this venue was not a public toilet and we should continue to wherever it is we were going.
His general attitude basically summed up wigan in one... "we don't want your custom".
That incident btw, has now been reported to Wigan council, SIA and the bar in question. It will be investigated and I should hope, delt with, because it is not acceptable.
A short walk down onto King street, which is wigan's main night-life strip, and you'll soon see how the "life" has left the "night" there. Many bar's are now closed on a regular basis, and those that are open have had to cut their losses and put on offers to try and get people to go inside and spend money. You'll not only find out about them, but as is in our case, be stalked by their promotion staff, who will literally not stop hounding you on the street.
So what is open on king street and what do I think of them?
Reflex - Once an 80's themed bar, these days you will find they will play any sort of music out of their half working sound system, and try to take you back to the 80's, with the 3 remaining disco lights that actually work. It's rarely clean and they don't really do any amazing drinks offers, so why anybody would like to go in there, is passed me.
The Berekly - It's your typical pub, food is available and I must admit, the food is, and always has been quite good. IF they have any entertainments on, it's your typical DJ who was available low-cost and who has a joy in playing all of abba's greatest hits. Drinks wise, again, it's your typical pub. It's clean though and you can often have an enjoyable night in there.
Ibiza Bar - Recently in the news itself having been found guilty of watering down it's drinks, this is now one of Wigan's low points. It's music might be still old and cheesie, but so is the dirty décor and even more dirty attitude you can expect to receive off the staff.
Maloney's - Well, i'll be honest, I've never actually seen why this is sold to the public as an American/irish themed bar, because nothing of their clubland music or drinks, manages to join in with the dark décor of the venue. It's toilets are often crowded and yes, that will be a puddle from the over-flowing toilet, or where it's coked-up customers just couldn't be bothered to actually aim at the toilet. Downstairs has various levels, meaning that after a few drinks, you can sit back and enjoy the view as a number of people per night will trip over and injure themselves. It's smelly, loud, expensive and in my opinion, a living hell bar.
Jaks - Once billed as "the best party in town", I'd rather they took that sign down, because it's false advertising. This did indeed used to be Luminair leisure's "Jumpin' Jaks" bar, but these days, after several years of no cleaning and no re-furbishment, you can be assured that their crappy music and false drink offers, will have you angry, before you get drunk, or even served at one of the club's 3, understaffed and often closed, bar's.
Mortimers - This is as it always has been, a pub, that likes to think it can party. There's not much that really can be said about it to be honest. It has odd decoration, a lot of wasted space, it's dimley lit and has a lot of un-used and damaged sound and lighting equipment. This is one of them bars that will put on silly offers to try and get people to go in, rather than be reasonably priced and offer good entertainment.
Revolution - Yes, the copy of Baa Bar is still going strong in wigan (although Christ knows exactly how). While it's drinks are VERY creative and VERY nice, the price will mean you're either going home sober in your taxi, or, you're walking, pissed. Entertainment wise, it's nothing special. They might stick a good DJ on every now and then, but that's about as good as it gets.
The Hub - Only open of a night or weekend now, the hub used to be open as a pub during the day, showing all sports matches, serving food etc... but that side of the business has been cut right back and although they have now moved the DJ box to where the 2nd bar used to be (still is, but it never gets used), it's still not a really amazing place to be. It's lighting system is made up of various parts, some of which are new, but oddly placed and not really able to add to a good lighting show. It's "drinks offers" only bring the prices to just slightly above what you'd expect to pay anyway, and from a technical point of view, it's sound system still needs updating and fixing up.
Libertines - Now I always get confused, if I remember rightly, this was Chicago rocks... was. A while ago now the firm pulled out of the venue, due to increasing costs and lower than expected custom. This bar now is never a "nice" place to be if I'm honest. Last time I visited, the club's drainage had been having problems, so much of the building actually smelled like rotten shit and in my opinion, shouldn't have been open to the public. No sound or lighting has been recently updated, infact, nothing has changed about the venue at all.
There is a few other venues, including what used to be liquid - Now kept closed apart from the odd event here and there, where attendance is VERY low and the business won't be open much longer, and I'm confused as to why anybody bought it knowing how much the outgoings are (business rates etc). There's also a "gents" club along the street, which I won't be going into, as it's sign outside is saying how they're "always looking for female dancers", so yeah, it's going to be one of them grubby venues that possibly hire's hookers to service paying men's needs.
Anyway, all them, along with a growing number of closed kebab houses, makes for a pretty dismal atmosphere and image. We proceeded (stalked by libertines promo staff) into Mortimers bar, where their offer was 3 for one on ALL drinks. Yes, 3 pints of beer, for the price of one... and yes, you guessed it, the cost of the pint is only slightly higher than what you would expect to pay in the first place.... so it wouldn't be supprising to me to find out that their drinks were watered down, because after 6 pints of beer and 2 shots... I wasn't even feeling tipsy!
In the beer garden I was hounded by people who were wanting me to give them cigarettes or buy their fake branded one's which the person also claimed that he sold them to the security staff at the venue, which is less suprising when you look at the activities of the door staff, who spent more time watching the girls dance on the poles, or talking to random people, than actually looking at what the other customers were doing, which involved mass-drug taking in the toilets and over-crowding of the smoking balcony at the back. When you were on the dance floor you could experience the dodgy wiring of the sound system in full effect, that would often mean the dance floor area of the sound system was often not working and the lights, while most worked, you could tell that a lot of the LED's needed to be replaced.
After 6 drinks, we decided to move onto another popular venue, Bamboogy. Bamboogy is actually what happens when a struggling bar is taken over by owners who understand the market and react to it. I have never seen this venue left dirty, I've never seen broken lights, I've seen some good offers on at the bar, but you can easily see the profit margins on their drinks (if you know about that kind of thing) and you can see that profits from the venue are pumped back into it. I didn't enjoy my time in there though, but that was because of my general mood by this point. I'd had enough of wigan, and I just wanted to go home.
So there you basically have it. I am left feeling like I don't want to return to the failing nightlife scene and don't think i'll bother worrying now when I see that certain bars and venues are closing down again.
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