Wigan Casino

[Jerry Hipkiss]

The travelling home from the Casino with a gang of friends was something I really wish I had to do at times back in the day!

Yes, OK it could be a pain coming down ( ) the M6 in the morning, but the journey up just heightened the anticipation!

[Guest SteveJohnston]

From that description I'm guessing you lived in Aspull?

I used to work in a pub in Whelley and get the last train to Warrington Parr Hall after my shift....too young for Wigan went to Maximes a few times in the 80s when (I think) RS had nights there

Reg Aspull it was my Dad still lives at Pennington Hall Farm of Hall lane.

Warrington all nighters at the Calton were brill nights and the Burgers that the van sold (next to the rail station if i remember right) where superb the bigest i have ever seen cant remember much about the place other than that never went to Parr Hall but talking to old frends that had been it sounded like a good place to be.

Got good memorys of Wigan not just the Casino.

Steve J

Edited August 12, 2008 by SteveJohnston

[Davetay]

Not a comprehensive list, Ted, and I did say 'included'....

...but seeing as it's you...

Northern Soul legendary venues included (in some kind of chronology):

The Mojo

The Twisted Wheel

The Torch

The CATS!

Blackpool Mecca

Wigan Casino

Samanthas

Cleethorpes (x2)

Clifton Hall (Rotherham)

Bradford Queens Hall

Stafford

Warrington Parr Hall

All of these were historic venues and all were responsible for breaking great records.

I,ve got to had Va Va,s Bolton, Leeds Central, Tonys Blackburn, Morecombe Piper, Burnley Bankhall and 100 Club London.

[Guest Byrney]

I,ve got to had Va Va,s Bolton, Leeds Central, Tonys Blackburn, Morecombe Piper, Burnley Bankhall and 100 Club London.

Just one missing here: Shotts Ruff Cut Allnighters

[Guest mickeyb]

Yate must have been as influential as some of the later ones mentioned. Surely set the scene for Stafford?

[Guest martyn]

Yate must have been as influential as some of the later ones mentioned. Surely set the scene for Stafford?

It certainly set the scene for re-hab .....Too true mate,deserves to be on the list along with St Ives

[Guest Beeks]

Funny about Cleethorpes, my ex girlfriend was from Meggies (Slang for Cleethorpes round those parts) and her mum was proper into her Northern, knew it holds a lot of rallies but never knew it had such a reputation on the actual Northern Circuit...not exactly much there when you go up haha...I gather it all happened in the Winter Gardens...went to a Northern Soul do there going back a handful of years and it was dead!!

[Guest KEN-SOUL]

Wigan Casino was the bollocks, END OF--FACT. cya

growing up in edinburgh in the 70s, every youth club d.j., every disco d.j. when introducing the "northern spot" would inevitably say "lets go back down wigan"! we all managed to buy our "spensers" with essential wigan anniversary patches sewn on to them & t-shirts. half the kids in my working class part of edinburgh, were all avid northern fans, and "worshipped" the "casino"

and thats the point i'm trying to make: the casino for us, in edinburgh anyway, whether you attended or not, was a religious temple; a crucible, where base man-the record and the dancer-were turned into pure spirit.

as for unusual records being played, well, thats up to the d.j. just one more chance. clouds lives on! keep the faith.

[Paul Shirley]

being a wiganer i used to have a drink around town back in 74 then go up to station rd .gob me gear and go in for nothing because i was a cleaner or coke lad .some times we would hang around with the head bangers who was in there early doors watching the likes of motor head and so on despite all the crapp you hear we got on very well mutrall rispect and all that due to being off me head same as they was lol . i stoped going around 77 after that time i used to make an apearance 4 or 5 times a year but for me it became comercial trendy and so 'on and nothing like when it first started i also noticed some proper dick heads turning up from around town . that was it for me . but i hear people go on about so called top nighters in the country these days i wont name them but compared to back then you got to be kiding' now a days you get 100 or 200 people most of them well past there sell by date and its soposed to be a top nighter back then most of us where all very young and the numbers where 2000 and more most weeks . how people can even try and make some comparison ?. and as for the new blood brigade how can we atract young people and so on ? . its very simple they dont like northern soul and couldent give a monkeys for it . i like most others on this scene did not need to be lured in to this scene & the music i wanted to be apart of it from the start . if this music dosent apeal to the younger genaration "and it dont" you dont start saying how can we atract them .

there will never be another allnighter that can come close to the casino the only people you get having a go is people that never went or went at the end when it became crapp acording to what am told

Edited August 14, 2008 by mepaul50

[Guest casinoboy]

Ive noticed on here quite an anti Wigan Casino vibe from no little amount of forum users...

Is this common across the whole scene?

Obviously not being of an age to have been there, from an outsiders view I always thought Wigan was the pinnacle of the Northern movement?!?

Can any of you give me a little background on this hostility?

It's something ive been amazed at to be honest and id like to know more...

Can I give you a totally biased answer to your question about anti-Casino people? It aint` rocket science man, it`s just plain old-fashioned green-eyed jealousy. The only people who would or could ever denegrate what you rightly call the pinacle of the Northern Soul scene in this country are the tiny-minded, self-obsessed people who never went to the place. Wigan Casino was the Northern Soul scene. True it encouraged many other venues, many new DJ`s and a whole new generation to the music of Black America, a lot of which are still a part of the scene today. But in the whole history of Soul music in this country, the Casino stands head and shoulders above any other era, venue, or stupid opinion voiced by those who were not a part of those wonderful seven years. Look at your `whats` on` guide for the next month then ask yourself; without the legacy of Wigan Casino, how many venues would still be running on a monthly or weekly basis? Without the Casino, Northern Soul would have died with the closure of the Torch and the Catacombs, there would have been no Cambridge, no Yate, no Stafford, no Keele, no Kings` Hall: Northern Soul would be as dead as Punk Rock and Jazz Funk. I can only feel sorry for those who slag the Casino today, because the scene that they claim to be part of is just a ripple in the pond that once was hit by a hurricane. I hope that answers your question man, if not it was worth the time to remember the `Emp` as my old mate Steve Whittle still calls it. Believe me, as someone who was there and would still give anything to return there for just one night, they didn`t call it the Heart Of Soul for nothing.

[Paul Shirley]

couldent of told it beter my self casinoboy .also i have known steve whittle since we was 16 used to call round to his house for the latest tunes on tape yes we all knew the casino as the Empress ballroom as thats was its name for long before the casino years' i would allso love to take moaners back in time and show them a proper allnighter .ah well nevermind

[Guest casinoboy]

couldent of told it beter my self casinoboy .also i have known steve whittle since we was 16 used to call round to his house for the latest tunes on tape yes we all knew the casino as the Empress ballroom as thats was its name for long before the casino years' i would allso love to take moaners back in time and show them a proper allnighter .ah well nevermind

You got that dead right mate! We used to call it a bad night at the Casino if only 500 people turned up! How many venues today can boast that kind of attendance, even on a monthly basis? We got that every week!!

Keep the faith bro! Casinoboy

[Guest]

Be my guest!

I did a thread on nighters a few months ago and ended up with a list of over 100 nighters that had graced the scene at one point or another over the years, each contributing in some way to the music that we still love today

[Koolkat]

ra

Can I give you a totally biased answer to your question about anti-Casino people? It aint` rocket science man, it`s just plain old-fashioned green-eyed jealousy. The only people who would or could ever denegrate what you rightly call the pinacle of the Northern Soul scene in this country are the tiny-minded, self-obsessed people who never went to the place. Wigan Casino was the Northern Soul scene. True it encouraged many other venues, many new DJ`s and a whole new generation to the music of Black America, a lot of which are still a part of the scene today. But in the whole history of Soul music in this country, the Casino stands head and shoulders above any other era, venue, or stupid opinion voiced by those who were not a part of those wonderful seven years. Look at your `whats` on` guide for the next month then ask yourself; without the legacy of Wigan Casino, how many venues would still be running on a monthly or weekly basis? Without the Casino, Northern Soul would have died with the closure of the Torch and the Catacombs, there would have been no Cambridge, no Yate, no Stafford, no Keele, no Kings` Hall: Northern Soul would be as dead as Punk Rock and Jazz Funk. I can only feel sorry for those who slag the Casino today, because the scene that they claim to be part of is just a ripple in the pond that once was hit by a hurricane. I hope that answers your question man, if not it was worth the time to remember the `Emp` as my old mate Steve Whittle still calls it. Believe me, as someone who was there and would still give anything to return there for just one night, they didn`t call it the Heart Of Soul for nothing. sse

Absolutely foockin spot on my son.................Wigan Casino ran our lifes all week/month/year. Just cos some you lot were too young....tough shit........you missed the best times ever. END OF!!!!!!

[Barry]

In answer to your initial question:

"Cos it was Ace!"

[Guest]

Without "beating about the bush",and having frequented the venue on many occasions over its duration, and taking on board the"warts and all" experiences personally encountered, I for one am grateful of the "privelige", that has had so much influence on my "social life" to date and for one have no regrets for the overall experience. ...I do wonder however how much, critics who never actually had the opportunity first hand, tend to somewhat knock the place...... they may have never had the opportunity of actually visiting......just an observation.....

and a very good oberservation - I was just going to say that myself - KNOCK IT, ONLY IF YOU WENT, then, you have a right to an opinion, I think. Best place I ever went.

[Guest Dave Turner]

Some of the comments on here about The Casino on here have been very interesting to say the least, so being someone who went regular to Wigan for the first year (up to the first anniversary with Edwin Starr headlining if my memory serves me well) and remembering being blown away by the atmoshere the first time i went, just sitting on the balcony taking it all in, the dancers, the sounds the people etc but like every thing there were the bad sides like wadeing through piss in the toilets so your trouser bottoms didn't get soaked, having to go to the toilets with mates in case you got rolled over by arse holes thinking you had drugs on you they wanted off you without paying for them, never did the drug thing myself as the music did it for me, then while we are on the subject of music it went downhill when Russ introduced the tailor made Northern instumentals and crap vocals put onto instumentals as supplied by our friend Simmon and just out and out pop music getting played

But on it went, untill realising because of requests for certain tracks at Wigan punters had heard at Cleethorpes Pier/Winter gardens Wigan realised they had BIG competition which brings me on to whether the scene could have carried on in the way that it has without what the Casino had done well, yes it could and the reason i say this is because one particular weekend the Casino hired the Winter Gardens on the SAME nite as the Pier with ALL their top guns djing but the Gardens was empty all but for the dj's and their wives/girlfriends, not even the Wiganites who regulaly came to Cleethorpes deserted the Pier, now you tell me, would this happen to day, i think not, and did the Casino try this with any other venue? NO

So the one venue that was in my opinion (and not just because i was an original dj there) was for me Miles better in the quality of music played (60's and 70's) and could have held that mantel mentioned elsewhere in this thread, the Casino knew it that that is why they did what they did, we were just unlucky that we were closed down by the Council because of presure from the police leading to no more all nite licences being granted, The Casino was a great place to be for me for a while, loved it but it took a turn for the worse but i will always remember the GOOD times i had at the Casino and the GREAT times i had at Cleethorpes. Rick Scott

PS Strange how the Casino survived the Drugs thing, the rumoured deaths due to drugs at the Casino (is this true?) and conspiracy theories as to who had relatives in high places (allegedly) mmmm i feel another thread cominng on.........................

Rick, good post and pretty much sums it up for me as well. Myself I was a regular at Wigan up until Cleethorpes kicked off in '75. For sheer atmosphere Wigan was phenomenal. Some off the most jaw-dropping awe inspiring sights of my life were from the balcony when such biggies of the day like Rhino, Tomangoes, Vel-Vets, Bob Relf etc were playing. It was fcuking brilliant.

I then became a regular at Cleethorpes for a number of reasons. I thought there was a wider spectrum of quality sounds and the other reason was that as I'm from South Lincs it was easier to get there without trying to bum lifts or hitching it.

One thing that always impressed me with Cleethorpes was the feeling of brother/sisterhood, a sense of belonging to somewhere. Wigan trying to put on a do at the Winter Gardens while the Pier was running was a shit underhand thing to do and everybody knew it hence they got blown out big time.

Yeah, Wigan was fantastic no doubt about it, but Cleethorpes will always have the at extra special place in my heart and memories.

My worst times at Cleethorpes were when you used to play Stony Ground

[Mach]

Edited September 20, 2008 by big chris