The new market hall is set to be the first piece of the town centre overhaul in Wigan to be complete - coming as soon as 2024. The controversial Galleries redevelopment has been a polarising topic in the borough, but promises a hotel, 464 homes and a multimedia centre with a cinema, ten-lane bowling alley and indoor mini golf as well as shops and offices.
The £130 million site will sit off Market Street - where the old Galleries shopping centre lies vacant. The plan by Wigan Council has been met with scepticism along the way from some residents who think this is what the council wants, not them.
There was even concern - voiced by local group Friends of Wigan Town Centre’ - around whether funding was in place to do the work and if contractors had even been assigned to the job - but this was refuted by Wigan Council.
