1970: Is WIGAN Becoming TOO MODERN? | Nationwide | Voice of the People | BBC Archive

"It's trendy, it's swinging, it has all the signs of a go-ahead town determined to get on the modern map and to show that this is where it's all happening. And where exactly is this architectural apocalypse, this town of tomorrow? Would you believe, Wigan."

Jack Pizzey reports from Wigan, where folk singer Keith Roberts is mounting a one-man, musical resistance movement, against the urban planners that are determined to modernise his beloved town. Keith mourns the vanishing cobbled streets and the removal of the tramlines, he despairs at the rising concrete jungle and the town's seemingly inexorable move towards trendiness.

Keith takes Jack to the former site of the infamous Wigan Pier, which was likely a coal-loading staithe. Despite being the butt of countless jokes, Keith believes Wigan Pier is a significant feature of the town, and should be preserved. More than anything, Keith fears that the people in charge of redevelopment, in their haste to modernise, might unwittingly take away the character, and the very heart of the town.

Clip taken from Nationwide, originally broadcast on BBC One, Tuesday 22 September, 1970.





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