Wigan Casino - A newspaper take on the drug side of the Casino 1978

great read KenB

Thank you

doesn't exactly paint the place in a very great light does it mmmmm

only went up to Edwin Starr's live appearance then lost interest in the place

lots of rumours went around at the time why Police didn't call for the place to be shut down

maybe someone in the know may well have the answers 

Went loads of times ,the referral in the paper as quote BLACK MANS MUSIC.shame on him .oh but what good times we had the police should have gone around the cars in the car park at the side of the casino ,they are nearly all nicked ,so the soullies could get to the venue .Good old fashioned coppers and journalists eh 

I got a newspaper cutting i found in an old LP, something about a love nest of drugs, Bare with us and i will see if i can get a print of it

Thank you for posting....hmmm only 98% on drugs....what were the 2% up to!!.........Rob

3 hours ago, Lionelonthevinyl said:

Thank you for posting....hmmm only 98% on drugs....what were the 2% up to!!.........Rob

 

Sleeping

‘with sports bags full of gear’... sn*****, sn*****... I can remember my first outing at the Casino, March 1974, had a lift a Mini with two lads and lasses from RAF Valley. As I walked across the dance floor to the stage, Chris Scouse from Bangor asked me ‘have you got any gear?’ I said, ‘no just got my holdall here’, dohh... Well some of us didn’t need any artificial stimulants, the music was loud enough to wake the dead. More tellingly, the music was so great, you were on your toes all night. The drink was not expensive  - Coca Cola from the bottle did the job, but even six trips to the bar hardly cost anything. And those chicken rolls from the upstairs bar were delicious. Sorry, but the article does not do justice to the true state of affairs. Yes, some took non-prescribed medication, often liberated from poorly secured pharmacies en route to Wigan, but the Piggly-Wiggly brigade more often than not, were holding their balls in the car park, blending in nicely with coach-loads of divvies on their only trip to the Casino to see what the fuss was about.

it certainly was loud alright, after several months of going, i had to visit my dr,s with a constant ringing in my ears, "whats your job he enquired or have you been around ampified music? errr.. the penny dropped, Casino speakers, Tintinitus diagnosed. 

I can remember early in the morning ,a copper come in in full uniform a sergeant I think ,and unbuttoned his tunic and started dancing brill.he must have liberated some gear from somewhere

I was a regular at the Casino for 2 years from 1977 - 1979, tried drugs twice but couldn't trust what was in them. Anyway it took away the real pleasure from the dancers and the music. Much more value for money than your regular Saturday boring night out pub crawl.

Sgwarun

Wales

Memories to include probably in my present Fine Art Diploma Course.

Funny it's in my blood and it won't go away.

Believe it or not when we stopped in Ince one night, a tramp in disguise on the floor got up and police arrested two blokes at he took his disguise off and as we were approaching the station I was wandering why those two black Maria's were following us.

I only once had the toilet door barged in 

but I was genuinely having a dump.

On 03/08/2021 at 13:51, Rick Scott said:

great read KenB

Thank you

doesn't exactly paint the place in a very great light does it mmmmm

only went up to Edwin Starr's live appearance then lost interest in the place

lots of rumours went around at the time why Police didn't call for the place to be shut down

maybe someone in the know may well have the answers 

Just now, Hooker1951 said:

 

Just now, Hooker1951 said:

 

On 03/08/2021 at 13:51, Rick Scott said:

great read KenB

Thank you

doesn't exactly paint the place in a very great light does it mmmmm

only went up to Edwin Starr's live appearance then lost interest in the place

lots of rumours went around at the time why Police didn't call for the place to be shut down

maybe someone in the know may well have the answers 

Hi Rick

The reason why the police didn’t shut the place down was that Gerry Marshall the club owner always had contacts with the right people within the Police, ie Chief Superintendents current at the time and Ex Commanders  Gerry was a very canny operator with a lifetime of experience with Clubland, The Casino formally the Empress Ball room always  held the annual Policeman Ball for example, In February 1973 while working there as a doorman I was locking up one night dropping the keys off at his office , he asked me had I any ideas to benefit the club and I mentioned all nighters Soul Music  and he replied that wouldn’t be a problem has he knew the right people, Everybody knows what happened next so make your own minds up, Gerry was very good at what he did.

Stay Safe

Mick L

Thanks Mick,

thats what i had heard back in the day and did wonder how true the rumours were,

Thanks for your input on the subject and making an interesting insight of our strange and wonderful Scene

Take Care

Rick

Favourite drugs story of my Wigan days (or nights I should say)

It was a freezing cold winters evening and I was only 15 but attending Wigan. I recall it was an anniversary night and the coach drew up outside only to see thousands pushing to get in. We decided to go with the coach driver to park up and take a steady walk back to the Casino. As we approached two men jumped out of an alley and got hold of the 4 of us and they were quickly joined by uniformed plods.  They said they were drug squad and looking for gear. They made us strip off all our clothes from the top half and undo our trousers so they could check our waist bands etc. They went through our bags with spare clothing, shoes etc and we were all freezing to death. They found nothing, as we had nothing. On reaching the Casino there was still a crowd so we sheltered in a doorway across the street. A couple of lads from Manchester joined us and they shared some of their food with us, which I thought was a lovely gesture. 

We joined the queue to get in, which was still massive, when we were approached by two other men asking where we were from. They then asked if we wanted to get in cheaper and pointed up an alley towards the side of the Casino. At this point all 4 of us were expecting the worst and ready to fight, but the guys knocked on the back door, it opened, we handed over our cash and we were in whilst the queue outside still contained hundreds waiting in the cold and rain. 

Great but scary memories. 

Saw this the other week, was this ever a 'Thing' ? lol