Wigan

"We all live in a tub of margarine, a tub of margarine, a tub of margarine."

A famous Wigan Athletic chant, referencing the state of wigan housing.

We travelled in two separate battalions and met at the barracks for the weekend, The Brocket Arms. A wetherspoons 15 minute walk from town, with a hotel upstairs, superb.

We checked in, admiring the artwork from a local school which furnished the corridors. The Herts team were 5 pints deep by the time we all met so we made haste.

Pub 1, The Swinley, a social club with an average age of 65 but an average friendliness of, very friendly. We had welcome pints of smooths and bitters and acquainted oursleves with the Wigan accents that filled the room. Snooker table and homely furniture. As we left a local gave some words of wisdom, "If you can't be calm, be careful". Ominous.

Fox and Goose was next with kombuchaesque pints and karaoke starting for the eve. Pubs of Wigan tube stop map on the wall and disco lights made for a great atmos.

Next the White Lion and Railway, a fair jaunt into the Whelley area of Wigan. When we arrived we were quickly acosted by a large group of locals who demanded we played killer darts for a quid each in a hard hat. Can't remember all their names but Stella man, Cory and John ring bells. Cory won and they advised us of the pubs next on our list. We bid farewell and left full of cheer. If the Wigan housing was really in poor condition, at least the pubs were going strong.

5mins down Whelley Road and we were in the Earl of Balcarres, named after an old Wigan MP. Karaoke booming and an ongoing game of pool. No one really batted an eyelid at our presence. Fabulous atmos and we happily absorbed local renditions of whigfield, los del rio and other classics.

The night was getting on so we bid farewell and marched on to the Ball and Boot. Greeted by a young man suprised we'd not been kicked in at the previous places - Far from it. We grabbed a couple of VKs for the table and another round of pints. Cookie got intimidated by an 18 yr olds accent so we left.

We tried a couple more places but it was too late, so back to the Brocket for a final pint and argument over Declan Rice.
#Bliss

Day Two. A Brocket Arms breakfast and a monster ultra to wake us up and we were flying again. We walked through Menzies Park which was actually quite beautiful before crossing the Leeds and Liverpool Canal to an industrial state which housed the DW Stadium.

Though it was only 11.45 so we gave her a wink and bustled over to the Queens Arms for £4, one pour Guinesses. Bad manners on the jukebox and Coventry on the tv so we stayed for the first half.

Next the Newton Working Mens Club - an incredible social club with a full snooker table, enormous hall on the otherside for Northern Soul nights (no talc on the dancefloor) and a projector - which they put on for us to watch Coventry storm to victory against a pathetic Wolves. Take a bow Simms.

We nipped to a bakery for a Wigan kebab (pie in a buttered white bap) then quickly got to the stadium for a pre game pint before settling in to a riveting Blackpool vs Wigan derby which saw the Latics win 1-0. We stuck all our money on Steven Humphrys and he really couldn't be arsed. On the way back to town half of us were kettled to a rust bridge over the canal where the blackpool and wigan fans went at it. Magical.

The rest of the group had quick pint in the Anvil (no pic) which had won multiple Camra awards and they had wainwright ale though unfortunately it was rammed so we quickly went to the George where we got the gang back together.

Anything goes here and people who seemed in relatively terrible health were having a great time. They told us which pubs were decent, dear and shit.

We hopped across the road to the Raven where we watched rugby and got bullied by some wiganites.

Quick pitstop in Mr Wangs to recharge before we hit the Dog and Partridge where we danced with locals, admired maps of lancashire on the wall and played some shot games (hit the 2p across the table so it lands on the other edge).

The night was getting on so we went to the Berkeley where we unfortunately fell foul of Wigan Pub Watch, and that was our night over. Back to the Brocket for last orders and bed for most of us, though one man had a date with the Warrington Mcdonalds.

What a weekend 🔵⚪️