S. Worthen | Weblog

Wigan "Pier" is a set of quays in an open, wide stretch of the Leeds-Liverpool Canal. This is a photo of what used to be warehouses and what is now the Orwell Pub. The most distinctive feature left over from its industrial past are the roofed sections sticking out over the canal with the remnants of hoists, used for loading cargo onto canal boats.

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The most important, world-shifting thing I've learned from reading Alice in Sunderland so far is this: there is no Wigan Pier.

It was all a joke, one which grew so far out of hand as to spawn a novel, a night club, a city quarter, a worldwide reputation. But it does not exist.

pittenweem - did you know this?