manchester tourist guide regional sightseeing
Thursday, 24th July 2003
The Wigan Pier ExperienceWallgate
Wigan
01942 323666
www.wiganmbc.gov.uk
Adult £6.95, concessions £5.25, family £19.95.
Mon - Thurs: 10pm - 5pm; Sat - Sun: 11pm - 5pm. This is a series of attractions located in and around cotton mills and canal wharves a short walk from the centre of Wigan. The Pier was always a joke. The small, mucky, industrial wharf ironically compared to the great seaside piers at resorts such as Blackpool. The Wigan Pier Experience gives an insight into the town's industrial past with a resident theatre company, a Victorian schoolroom, a cotton spinning machine, a huge working mill steam engine and Opie's Museum of Memories. The emphasis is on recreating the sights, sounds and atmosphere of the past. Boat trips on the re-developed Leeds and Liverpool canal are also available. Half the experience is based at the pier itself, the other half in the adjacent Trencherfield Mill. The best part of The Experience is undoubtedly Opie's Museum of Memories. From ration cards to the first edition of the Radio Times, the Bay City Rollers to the Spice Girls, this museum houses an eccentric and eclectic treasure trove of C20 memorabilia. The exhibits were gathered together by social historian and insatiable collector Robert Opie. Even the most trivial and mundane items, like old cereal boxes and soft drinks bottles are here. Time has magically transformed this 'load of old junk' into items of resonance and interest. The collection not only allows the visitor to wallow in distant memories and moments of self indulgent nostalgia, it also tells an important story of consumer society, and the place of the ordinary man in history.
Toilets, baby changing, food and drink, shop, group and school visits, disabled access, guided tours, events. Links within ManchesterOnline
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