Wigan was appaling. The management treated everyone like cash cows. The DJ's played some insulting music for a so-called Soul Club. The place was a dump and Marshall et al never spent a red cent on anything. The vast majority of teenagers were off their box on amphetamines and in later years anything else that was to hand. If you didn't keep an eye on stuff it WOULD get nicked. All this is true.
I was a Soul fan before it was called Northern, and I still am. I have travelled the UK and a lot of the world. Unfortunately, nowhere comes close as far as raw atmosphere is concerned. It was of it's time and place and it has gone, like an old dangerous mistress, fondly remembered but you wouldn't want to spend your life with her. Would you?