April 2026. Wigan.
My final Greater Manchester GBG26 newbie is a good couple of miles west of town, and which man doesn’t want a 45 minute slog through industrial wasteland and retail parks to an industrial estate brewery tap.
Despite being in one of the world’s great pub towns, I decided on moderation,
and had one of those isotonic that seem to dominate my Spoons visits these days.
That Erdinger has vitamins, you know, and I once read that vitamins are good for you. I make no claims for the crispy Korean chicken.
The Moon Under Water is packed, largely with gentlefolk and Saturday Dads trying to control their children with crisps, and with the male adult population at the football it’s a quietish centre.
But there’s blue skies above Mesnes Park,
and Wigan looks neatly kept as you walk along what used to be the redbrick route to Springfield Park,
before the Latics ditched that for their shiny modern stadium across the Leeds and Liverpool Canal* under the stewardship of Dave Whelan, who you may not know broke his leg in the FA Cup Final.
Odd walking past a League football ground while a game’s on, trying to predict whether the “Oooh” and “Booo” is for a VAR review of a Coldplay show.
The Wily Fox Tap feels just a few yards away from the Brick Sommunity Stadium to pack in the pre-match crowds, and here the trade is a family whose Dad apologises for his toddler is running around; when I say “I don’t mind, at least he’s at the pub” he looks at me funny.
I’ve only really noted the Wily Fox beers in the “value” micros in Woolybackland, with a description of “good enough” both times.
This Brauhaus Pils was only £3.80, and could have been Peerless**,
though it drifted a bit from an early 3.5, though the heat may have been to blame.
Over at the Brick, the Wombles were about to score a 90th minute winner to stay up in what the stats suggest was not a cracker,
just as I made it back to George Orwell’s favourite pier on the edge of Wigan centre.
The Mill area has been transformed since my last visit to the pier area,
with Feast an upmarket food court-cum-entertainment venue in the Mackie Mayor vein.
What a great town.
*Exciting news for Leeds and Liverpool Canal fans coming up
**Beery in-joke
retiredmartin 