Wigan Casino - History

History

Wigan Casino was the name of the last incarnation of a Wigan ballroom called the Empress. Local DJ Russ Winstanley and Wigan Casino manager Mike Walker approached lease owner Gerry Marshall to run all-nighters there. Walker brought Winstanley who had a DJ set at the local rugby club to the Casino Club. At 2 am in the early hours of Sunday, 23 September 1973, Wigan Casino opened its doors for its first ever Northern Soul all-nighter, with Winstanley as the DJ. Soul performers that performed there include Jackie Wilson, Edwin Starr and Junior Walker.

Young people from all over the UK regularly made the trek to Wigan Casino to hear the latest northern soul artists and to dance. Queues to get in were sometimes five or six people deep, and stretched quite a way up the road. The second dance floor, called Mr. M's, stayed open until 6 am and played oldies songs from a variety of DJs. Every all-nighter traditionally ended with three songs that became known as the 3 before 8: "Time Will Pass You By" by Tobi Legend, "Long After Tonight Is Over" by Jimmy Radcliffe, and "I'm On My Way" by Dean Parrish. Parrish is still active on the northern soul circuit. Over four million people attended the Soul Sessions which also had early sessions every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Wigan Council owned the building and wanted to extend the nearby Civic Centre, but due to running out of cash, it never went ahead. The club was closed on 6 December 1981; that final night of Wigan Casino in its northern soul state was DJ'd by Winstanley, and the 3 before 8 were played three times consecutively at the end of the night. The crowd refused to leave, so according to Winstanley, to "break this spell of hysteria" he picked a 7" at random from his box and played that. This final Wigan Casino song became one of the most famous northern soul songs of all time, Frank Wilson's "Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)". Annual reunions are held in Wigan and hosted by the original DJs.

The site, as of 2009, is occupied by the Grand Arcade shopping centre, which pays homage to the site with its Casino Café copying much of this article on its website.