Is Wigan the Centre of the UK?

Considering that Wigan doesn't have City status and as a small Northwest town that was once known only for coal mining and its pier, it is well served for transport links. The Motorway network around Wigan is remarkable and if they were all joined up it would be brilliant.

Wigan sits just off the M6 (look for the Heinz factory as well!) just a few miles down from the first stretch of motorway ever built in UK, which was in neighbouring Preston. The M58 squirts off the M6 at Wigan and bypasses Skelmersdale on its way to the north side of Liverpool. Not a particularly busy motorway but ideal for linking to Southport on the coast. The M61 runs close to the Wigan suburb of Aspull and links back to M6 at Leyland and onwards to Manchester. From the M61 you can join onto the M62 close by and get on your way to Leeds or back to Liverpool.

On the subject of Leeds to Liverpool there is also the canal system in Wigan. Once used as a thoroughfare for the transportation of coal in Victorian times and through to the fifties, the canal system has been revitalized and is now a busy means of tourism, as well as some industry. It is worth remembering that on this famous canal stands the immortal "Wigan Pier" which was used in the early days when loading coal onto the barges. This wonderful canal travels around Wigan and past Haigh Hall. This section of the canal is a burial ground for countless golf courses from the local golf course that follows the meandering canal for several holes. During the summer months the local kids are often found in the water rescuing these drowned golf balls, only to try and sell them back to golfers on the course. I know from experience as I have lost many a Dunlop to the "Cut"

Haigh Hall was previously the home of the Earl of Crawford and Balcarres and is a listed building dating back to 1850. Today, it is used as a Wedding Venue and corporate event centre and has excellent facilities in a wonderfully sedate environment.

At one time, there were three railway stations in Wigan but Central station was closed many years ago. Today, there are still two stations with Wigan Wallgate having a train service between Manchester and Liverpool, ideal for city commuters and then there is Wigan North Western.

From Wigan North Western you can travel south direct to London and be there in just over two and a half hours. Traveling north it is approximately the same time to Glasgow Central.

So we've covered trains and boats (well narrow boats) and now on to planes! Wigan does not have its own airport but it is only about half an hour's drive to either Manchester Airport, Liverpool John Lennon Airport or Blackpool Airport and from there you can get to any part of the globe.

If you really want to have a "real" boat you can get to Liverpool docks inside half an hour and either get a ferry cross the Mersey or catch a bigger one to Ireland. But when you think about it, why would you want to leave Wigan?


Noel Keane - CityLocal Wigan
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