ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Wigan, A Town of Pie Eaters

Updated on March 12, 2012

Shopping

My fiancée said to me this morning "You can take me shopping today"

"Do I have to" I replied "Where?"

"Wigan" She said.

"0k, no problem" I replied.

Now if she had said Preston, Bolton or Manchester then I would have pulled my face and sulked but I don't mind Wigan. I can honestly say I quite like it. It's easy to get into and even easier to get out of. It has plenty of car parks hidden away, out of sight, yet right in the middle of the town centre.

"Whoever did the town planning did a right good job" as a Wiganer would say.

Up Standishgate, past the Galleries and the first port of call is Debenhams, inside the Grand Arcade. A recently built centre, just bursting with all the famous high street names. Well I thought it was the first port of call, it's not because I heard the familiar call

"Let's just go in here". Very deep sigh from me. I now find myself in 'NEXT ' a clothes shop famous for it's sales , which start at five am on Boxing Day morning.

"Lets see if they have that dress" she said. She was talking about a dress she had been looking for in the Bolton store just two days earlier. Half an hour later, no success.

"Come on" she said and off she marched towards Debenhams. I quickly overtook her and led the way, hoping she wouldn't stop at any other shops. Past the benches filled with men, waiting while their wives were shopping.

At last we were there, sanctuary. I like Debenhams; there is something about it. I like the way everything is laid out. It has a feeling of quality. A proper department store.

"Oh look. Seventy percent off" I smiled. Within five minutes, she had found a dress at a bargain price. Onward to the dressing room, to try it on. Another deep sigh, they were queuing out the door. I got my kindle out.

Twenty minutes later, the dress is in the bag and we are leaving. I noticed a very large man coming my way. On his shirt was the slogan

"I ate all the pies and chips and gravy too "

I laughed. It refers to a song rival fans sing at football matches. Particularly aimed at Wigan Athletic fans.

"Who ate all the pies

who ate all the pies

You fat b*****d

You fat b*****d

You ate all the pies".

That started me thinking. Why are Wigan folk called pie eaters?

Wigan town centre.  A good mix of old & modern
Wigan town centre. A good mix of old & modern | Source

I am still hungry

Is one pie enough?
Is one pie enough? | Source

The Reason

As we were walking back down Standishgate, I took notice of the amount of people eating pies or pasties. There were quite a few, not surprising really as there are a lot more pie shops than any other kind of food outlets. So I have done a bit of research and I have come up with three answers to the question.

One reason given is because the world pie eating championships are held in Wigan every year. This year Neil Collier won it in a world record time of 23.91 seconds. Honestly, you couldn't make this stuff up. I don't think this is the real reason. I think the world pie eating championships are held here because they are known as pie eaters.

Another reason that was thrown in the pot is because Wigan was once a huge coal-mining town. When the miners had their lunch, because they was underground and had dirty hands. They would hold the crust and eat the contents, when they had finished they would simply throw the dirty crust away. I don't think this is the real reason either. I know that is why Cornish pasties were invented, because of the tin miners in Cornwall but they are a completely different shape to a pie.

This has to be my favourite reason. Back in May 1926 a general strike was called throughout the whole of Britain. Workers of all key industries came out on strike in support of the miners. Miners of Wigan and the miners of a nearby town called Leigh came out.

The Wigan miners broke the strike and went back to work but the Leigh miners stuck it out, Eventually reaching agreement with the pit owners and receiving better wages and conditions than their Wigan counterparts. Thus the Wiganers have had to eat humble pie ever since.

What do you think?

Which one of these is most likely to be the true reason

See results
working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)