Wigan will have "its very own Altrincham Market " now plans for a new food hall within a historic mill have been given the go ahead. Eckersley Mill, formerly the heart of the spinning industry in the town centre, will feature a series of individual stalls and a bar on the ground floor with an outdoor terrace that can host around 350 people.
Likened to the Baltic Market in Liverpool and Mackie Mayor in Manchester by developers Heaton Group, this food hall, estimated to be 22,000 sq ft in size, will sit below office space on the first, second and third floors above. The plans for the Swan Meadow Road site are only in relation to Mill 1 - which is currently occupied by a gym and fitness club, wrestling club, play centre, self storage and non-food store.
At its height of production in the mid-1920’s, the mills contained some 253,000 spindles and 1,687 looms and employed more than 3,000 workers, forming one of the largest integrated textile production sites in the country.
