Wiganer here. This mall is being demolished in earnest now. With no funding for the replacement market/housing/leisure in place. People here are overwhelmingly against its demolition. It’s a beautiful building and an absolute crying shame it’s being allowed to be flattened.

"I don't know you"..."We don't know you either"...I was cracking up 🤣

Imagine this on a Saturday afternoon before internet shopping and COVID …. the hustle and bustle of people shopping, friends bumping into each other, the sound of people laughing and joking, teenagers meeting up etc. Sad to see this, unfortunately it’s not uncommon

I'm a Wiganer born and bred and watching this has saddened and angered me more than I can say. My parents still live in Wigan and refuse to let visiting family go into the town centre now because the local council appears to have been dead-set on systematically running it down for years, a situation only accelerated by Covid. I understand that funding for the planned - and from what I've seen of it absurdly ambitious - regeneration of the area with residential housing and the like is possibly in doubt so the place is slowly becoming a ghost town. Utterly tragic and a criminal waste of money and resources in what used to be a bustling and thriving town.

seems quite a waste to demolish it, surely it would have been better to refurbish it. I bet the leisure building they replace it with will be cheap and bland like most modern buildings

Wow, opened by Princess Diana too what a piece of history to add to this amazing building, such a shame its gonna be demolished

I live Nr wigan town centre used to be buzzin like a ghost town now thanks to Wigan council being greedy and lack of investment in the town

Obvious British citizen playing the part of security guard, only doing his job when the lads got to his office.

The council was putting rent up and up and up and shop owners simply couldn't afford to pay anymore that's why most of the shops closed down and then when it came about the closing and demolition they put rent up even more to get people out quicker

How could anyone destroy let alone demolish this beautiful building, so sad! I wonder if the local people as taxpayers had any say in this decision. Thank you for sharing, as usual your camera work and documentary was great. 💕🇦🇺

Thank you for immortalising the galleries. It was always a beautiful building so to be able to see it again is incredible

Whoever gains access to the internal staircase within the Galleries' grand clock tower is guaranteed some flabbergasting footage by all accounts.

The high pitched "We're leaving" had me in stitches😂😂. Great video again

I’m from Wigan, never lived anywhere else. I remember as a kid my mum taking me to this shopping centre and I was always amazed by the massive clock, at Christmas they often put huge ceiling decorations in- again always amazed me. It saddens me to think I’ll never see it in person again. Pretty sure this building is getting demolished or something. Such a massive part of Wigan history just gone like that

Thank you for recording this. I have mixed emotions about this project. I am happy that something is finally happening. For years, the Galleries shopping center has been in a state of steady decline. At the end of its life, the place became a glorified cut-away. It was an embarrassment for the town. The architecture was impressive. In its heyday, it had a really nice atmosphere. Full of character. The designers and builders should be proud. I understand that it may have never been fully occupied since its inception, but it was still a thriving place back in its heyday. Times have changed, the High Street is no longer king. Internet shopping and retail parks have revolutionized our way of life. The glorification of idealized American culture which dominated England back then was certainly an influence on the design of the Galleries. It screams the late 1980s/early1990s. In my opinion, the Grande Arcade should have never been built. Yes, it looks great, but we already had a shopping centre. Trying to make Wigan compete with the neighboring city of Manchester was a recipe for disaster. Updating and investing in the Galleries would have seemed like a better plan. I hope they get it right this time.

I've lived in Leigh for a few years and had never been to Wigan until it was the nearest place I could get a Covid jab. Walking up the high street I passed the entrance to The Galleries and thought it looked cool, so I went in. Nothing was open and the place was a labyrinth. The lift and one of the escalators were both broken. I ended up outside on that upstairs part overlooking the square, behind the market hall. I couldn't find a way to get downstairs without retracing my steps all the way back to the entrance (the boarded up door in this video, where the path splits into an upward-sloping and downward-sloping fork). I thought it was an incredibly cool building and had planned to go back 'once the shops reopen' after lockdown ended. I'm glad I got to see it once though, it's hard even with this video to describe how huge and mazelike it felt, hidden behind that one small high street entrance. I'm really glad you were able to document this before demolition started, and that you didn't get murdered by the psycho security guard.

Thanks for another great explore. It's makes me sad that we are losing so much of our retail heritage all over the UK. Seasons greetings.

A real shame. Having grown up in Wigan I have fond memories of this place.

The galleries has been basically abandoned ever since the grand arcade opened in 2007. In fact the galleries has never been more than 85% occupied at any point since it's opening. The lower section where specsavers was has been basically empty for at least 15 years, and the section above the outdoor market that was intended to be for small independent shops has been empty for as long as I can remember. The galleries basically became a covered walk way to cross from one side of the town to the other and for access to the car park. It's been a sad site for many years now and it's honestly only a good thing that something is finally being done.

A born and bred Wiganwor here, still cannot believe this shopping centre closed😢