THE ROAD TO WIGAN!
- Jonny Mangas
- 2 days ago
- 9 min read
Updated: 1 day ago
A Different Type of Away Day: Barrow, Wigan Casino, and the Journey That Defined a Generation - A long read by Jonny Mangas
It's always been my belief that nothing in life can match the feeling of a crowd feeding off the same vibe, everyone in unison, the collective senses feeding off the same sights, sounds, smells. Very few places can give you that feeling. Finding it is what makes you jump out of bed on a Saturday morning with the anticipation of that adrenaline that'll define your youth and stick with you throughout your life. That match, that goal, that club, that record.
On Saturday 6th December, Barrow AFC will travel to Wigan in the FA Cup Second Round, and we thought this a great opportunity to tell a story about a group of Barrovians who made the same journey 50 years ago. Coincidentally, it was the last time Barrow travelled to Wigan to play a competitive fixture, but this group wasn't looking for three points on the road in the Northern Premier League. They were looking for the infamous Wigan Casino.
Nationwide interest in the Casino raised the profile of Northern Soul and almost propelled it into mainstream music. It boasted over 100,000 members, and in 1978 was declared the world's greatest nightclub venue by America's Billboard Magazine. This was a place that inspired a generation of people.
People like Maxine Wall from Barrow. In her account from Northern Soul in Barrow by Rob McKeever, Maxine recalls:
'It was the summer of 1976 and I was 15 years of age. I'd found myself a part-time job in a local hairdressers during Vickers fortnight to fund my dream, that of visiting the legendary Wigan Casino. I needed to see for myself if what Kurt Gilmour, Steve Bennett, Alex McQuillan etc said about this place was true. Surely nowhere could be that happening, that friendly and that buzzing with atmosphere. I packed my vanity case about 50 times, checking and re-checking that the kidskin granny shoes my nana had lent me were highly polished and my change of clothes were all neatly folded – I wanted to look my best.
Alex McQuillan called for me around 8 o'clock so that we would be well on time for the 8:40pm train, which would take us straight through to Wigan. As we strolled to the train station I could barely speak, my stomach began to churn, I was filled with excitement but apprehension at the same time. The train journey flashed by in a blur. People boarded at Carnforth, Lancaster and Preston – there was no mistaking their destination. It was obvious from their attire: Wigan Casino.
I registered and was introduced to many people during my first journey, many of whom have become lifelong friends. Eventually we arrived at our destination. My heart was beginning to race as the adrenaline began to pump. We headed up Station Road towards the famous Casino. As I sat on the wall outside I found it difficult to take it all in. I watched as friendships were forged between people from all over the country.
I will never forget the feeling I got when I walked through the heavy double doors. The atmosphere was absolutely unbelievable; you could smell it, taste it and genuinely feel it. I remember walking around wide-eyed and in a daze, wanting to savour every moment, just soaking up this sense of occasion. I knew from that moment that the rest of my education would not be based around the schoolroom; it would be here, at Wigan Casino. My love for the soul scene began on that fateful night and remains with me to this day.'
Many Barrovians made the trip to Wigan to attend the Casino Club, a hotbed of Northern Soul in the 70s and 80s. One commentator remarked on the Casino crowd at the time, capturing an atmosphere that can easily be compared to a matchday:
"A thunderous noise is caught in the dense air and hangs blasting and reverberating in the energy of its own making. It is made by 3,000 gaping mouths and 6,000 thrashing hands. They stand shoulder to shoulder to yell, stomp, cheer and clap, a wave of pandemonium breaks loose as The Exciters launch into 'Blowing up My Mind.'"
Swap The Exciters' record for Jason Walker's goal at Wembley and it's the exact same rush. Same noise. Same adrenaline. Same unforgettable high you'll take with you all the way back to Barrow, spending your days thinking about how you can get a little bit of that feeling back again. It's a feeling that inspires you to get with your mates and organise week after week, month after month, year after year. That's reflected in the strength of the Barrow soul scene that still goes strong to this very day, and it's the scene to which I owe everything for first introducing me to this music over 20 years ago.
A chance stumble into the Kill One after the Soccer were at home meant that I would go on to meet people from across the globe and be involved in collecting soul records, DJing and organising soul nights for nearly two decades now.
I can't tell you who we were home to that day. I can tell you though that some slightly older and slightly cooler friends I had said that they were going to the Kill One that night as there was a ‘Motown night’ on. I was about 19 and by that point had matured from my Oasis CDs into stuff like the Jam and was listening to a bit of Motown on Mod compilations and fancied a bit of this night. I mean, this was Barrow around 2008 – it was that or getting the piss taken out of you down Cornwallis Street by some Smirnoff Ice tophead. So off to the Kill One I went, not knowing what to expect.
Now this wasn't Wigan Casino in 1976, but as far as I was concerned it may as well have been as this wasn’t a Motown night but my first ever experience of a Northern Soul night. Like Maxine put it before, I will never forget the feeling I got when I walked through them doors. I had never seen anything like it in my life – people dressed up smart, dancing in the most mesmerising way to a sound that just absolutely blew me away. I sat there from start to finish and just absorbed everything. It sounds a bit corny but my life changed that night as it would then take me on a journey across the country and the continent, meeting some of the greatest people and listening to what I would consider the greatest music. Just like that, going to the match and going to soul nights would define who I am.
The next day I returned to Manchester with a piece of paper where the DJs from the night before had kindly written down the names of the records I'd enquired about. I went to every record store in Manchester to try and find them, quickly realising that this wasn't going to be a cheap venture. That didn't matter though, as there were plenty of nights, and my life revolved around two fixtures lists: Barra Soccer’s and the events calendar on Soul Source.
I know my story isn't unique. Even to this day young Barrovians continue to be inspired by the scene, and there's that real feeling of a generational passing of the baton. Soul music is like that – it can often feel like there's a sense of purpose to keep it alive, as if you're part of something bigger than yourself, a chain that connects generations. And that chain goes right back to people like Brian George from Newbarns.
'The rare soul scene in Barrow was well established before Wigan opened its doors,' Brian told me. 'We had people from Barrow visiting the Golden Torch in Stoke-on-Trent and the Twisted Wheel in Manchester pre-1973. The Duke of Edinburgh and Furness Rugby Club soul nights had a great following. Not by me though, because I was too young! But once the British Legion started doing Northern Soul – as it was known by then – nights on a Wednesday, the interest in the Barrow area soared. We had the Penny Farthing, the Catholic Youth Centre, Furness Rugby Club etc, all generating interest in soul music, with a few of us wanting to learn more. So we started travelling down to Wigan and the Blackpool Mecca to hear, and possibly buy, these super rare records that you couldn't hear anywhere else. People would travel halfway round England to hear a particular record, played by a particular DJ.
Wigan Casino, to me, was the best club, and best atmosphere I ever knew! Spending hours and hours looking through the record boxes, just to find that one gem I could afford, and take it back to the Legion to play on a Wednesday night. Great days.
I organised a couple of coaches – I think it was Seaview from Askam. But most of the time we used to get the 8:40pm train out of Barrow.'
The 8:40 became as familiar to Barrow's soul fans as any fixture on the football calendar. Steve Ahern knows that train well. A dedicated Barrow fan since he was 11, Steve's weekends in the 70s looked a lot like mine in the 00's – Barrow Soccer on a Saturday day, soul nights after.
'We went loads,' Steve told me. '8:40pm train from Barrow, met in the Duke, got to Wigan for last orders if we ran, no late bar in them days. Then on to the Casino. Outside they'd be little groups with cassette players doing their thing as the Casino didn't open till 1am. One of the best nights was Junior Walker live – we got a coach up for that one. It was a fab place to make new friends. One particular guy from Stoke-on-Trent called Klunck, where the hell that name came from I'll never know but he was always there week after week.
In the morning we used to go to the swimming baths which was just down the road, then get the train home, have a kip in the afternoon, then off to the Penny Farthing Club in Ulverston for Sunday soul night.'
But while Barrovians were travelling to Wigan to hear rare American soul records, almost unbelievably a record made right here in Barrow was becoming a Casino classic.
Chapter Five were an eight-piece band from the town, and in 1966 they recorded a B-side titled 'You Can't Mean It' – a track that would eventually find its way onto the Wigan Casino playlist alongside some of the rarest Black American soul artists. The man who wrote it, organist Dave McGerty, had no idea. 'I wasn't aware about it until the mid-70s when a Northern Soul fan told our drummer's daughter about it after it was played at the Catholic Youth Centre in Barrow,' Dave told me.
Imagine that – discovering your record has been filling dancefloors at what was now one of the most famous soul clubs in the country, years after you'd made it. A song written in Barrow, recorded in 1966, now being played to thousands of people going wild and changing hands for big money. Good luck picking up a copy now for less than two grand!
'I was absolutely chuffed when I heard it was a favourite at Wigan Casino,' Dave said. 'To know that something we'd created was being played alongside these incredible American soul artists, to a packed dancefloor of people who lived and breathed soul music – it was surreal.'
'We were an eight-piece band with a brass line-up which was ideal for playing soul. Most of the bands in the area were guitar based, and we were the first of the local groups to use sax and trumpet. Tamla and Soul were just becoming a thing around 1964. This led to us being signed to CBS Records in 1966 and turning pro.'
Chapter Five's story is just one thread in a scene that's been going strong in Barrow for over 50 years. Brothers like Rob and Paul McKeever have been at it the whole time, travelling across the UK, making trips to the States to dig through record shops and warehouses, all to bring rare soul records back to this little industrial corner of England's northwest.
It's a proper community, the Barrow Soul Scene, and when Barrow heads to Wigan on 6th December for the FA Cup tie, we'll be taking the same route countless Barrovians took before us. Different reason, same destination, but the same anticipation for what Saturday brings!
In celebration of this story and this connection, Give 'em Beans! has produced this Barrow AFC – A Northern Soul emblem, designed especially by Jonny. This incorporates elements of the Barrow AFC badge and is available across a range of different merchandise on our store – link below.
And of course, no article about soul would be complete without a playlist, so head to Spotify via the widget below for this special playlist curated by Jonny Mangas and best pal Liam Quinn with input from some of the people who contributed to this article... something for your FA Cup matchday maybe?