Wigan Pier

Wigan Pier was the club. If you went out in Wigan in the 90s, or came in from anywhere across the North West, chances are you ended up on the dancefloor at the Pier. It sat right on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal in an old Victorian warehouse, next to the coal jetty George Orwell made famous with The Road to Wigan Pier.

The building had been a nightclub since around the early 70s, but the 90s is when it really took off. House and rave nights pulled in hundreds of people every weekend, from all over the country, and it became one of the best known clubs in the North West.

Into the 2000s the sound changed with the crowd. The Pier became the home of bounce and scouse house, that fast, pumping sound with an MC over the top of every tune, and CDs of the nights were everywhere.

It closed in 2011 after a long battle with environmental health. Wigan Council took over the lease in 2013, and most of the old club was knocked down in January 2014. The Pier is now being turned into a food hall, brewery, distillery and events space, so there might be music on the site again yet.

Ask anyone who went and they’ve got a story. The Wigan Pier Memories group on Facebook is full of old photos and flyers, and reunion nights still pop up. Got your own? Share your rave memories with us.