Wigan Athletic

Around and about Wigan

1. What is Wigan famous for?
One thing is a book written by author George Orwell, who is famous for ‘Animal Farm’ and ‘1984’. In 1937, Orwell wrote ‘On the Road to Wigan Pier’, about the difficult living and working conditions of the local people.

2. So where is Wigan Pier?
Wigan Pier is on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. It is close to Wigan town centre, and is being redeveloped to become an area for entertainment, with nightclubs, restaurants and bars.

3. What do people associate with Wigan?
Wigan is thought of as being an industrial town. In the 1830s, it was one of the first places in the world to have a railway. It also had so many coal mines that there was a joke that many people in Wigan had a coal mine in their garden! However, the last coal mine closed in the 1980s.

4. So what jobs do the people of Wigan do now?
Wigan is home to the largest food-processing factory in Europe, run by Heinz. Firms with their headquarters in Wigan include JJB Sports (a chain of sports shops), The Tote (bookmakers) and Girobank (a bank).

5. Does anything unusual happen in Wigan?
Yes, actually. Wigan is home to the annual World Pie Championship, in which contestants eat a 12 centimetre pie as fast as they can. The record is currently held by Adrian Frost, who devoured his meat and potato pie in just 35.86 seconds!

6. Why is Wigan’s stadium described as a ‘dual purpose’ stadium?
The DW Stadium (‘DW’ stands for Dave Whelan’, the owner of Wigan Athletic) is used for rugby matches as well as football. Wigan’s rugby team, Wigan Warriors, is also based at the DW Stadium. However, the ground belongs to Wigan Athletic.

Click here for a vocabulary activity

What do you remember about Wigan?

Read the statements about Wigan and decide if they are true or false.

Exercise

Which metropolitan county is Wigan a part of?  Search the web to find the answer.

• Merseyside
• West Midlands
• West Yorkshire
• Greater Manchester

Find out more about Wigan from Visit Britain's Wigan destination guide.