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Many local residents proudly disregard the county boundaries of Greater Manchester, formed on April 1, 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972, and use “Lancs”, (short for the county palatine of Lancashire) on their mail. The Loyal Toast , “The Queen, the Duke of Lancaster” is also still in regular use. See also Duchy of Lancaster.

Wigan was an important centre of coal mining and cotton textile production during the Industrial Revolution. Two important canalCanal du Midi in Toulouse, France Canals are man-made waterways, usually connecting existing lakes, rivers, or oceans. They are used for transportation, often by barges or narrowboats on smaller canals, and by ships on ship canals that connect to the ocea systems join there, and the main unloading point for charging coal to canal barges was known as Wigan Pier. This small jetty became known as a music hall joke. It bore no physical resemblance whatever to the seaside piers at resorts like BlackpoolBlackpool is a seaside town in England, on the coast of the Irish Sea. It is traditionally part of Lancashire but on April 1, 1998 was made into an independent unitary authority. The town boundaries are drawn very tightly, and exclude the nearby settlemen, SouthportThis article is about the English town of Southport. For other uses, see Southport (disambiguation). Southport is a seaside town in the north west of England. It is in the Merseyside borough of Sefton. It was included in Sefton when it was formed on April, BrightonThis article is about the English town; Brighton is also the name of several other places. Brighton in East Sussex is one of the largest and most famous seaside resorts in England. Brighton and Hove form a single conurbation but Brighton's lively atmosphe etc., and in any case Wigan is approximately 25 miles inland. It became world famous after George OrwellGeorge Orwell was the pen name of British author Eric Arthur Blair ( 25 June 1903 21 January 1950). Noted as a political and cultural commentator, Orwell is among the most widely admired English-language essayists of the twentieth century, though he is be titled a book of social commentary The Road to Wigan PierRoad to Wigan Pier The Road to Wigan Pier was written by George Orwell and published in 1937. It is a sociological look at living conditions in the industrial north of England before World War II. See Also Pier External links Searchable, indexed etext.. The book was not well received in the town, as residents felt it painted an unrepresentatively grim picture of life there, and was based on relatively little experience of the place. The Pier is today surrounded by an award winning heritage museum.

Wigan's main sports teams are Wigan WarriorsWigan Warriors are a professional rugby league club based in Wigan, England. They play in the Super League. They wear cherry and white hooped shirts, and play at the JJB Stadium. They are owned by Dave Whelan, who also owns Wigan Athletic F. and JJB Sport ( Rugby League) and Wigan Athletic ( Association football). The two teams now share a single stadium, League being played in summer and soccer in the winter. Athletic are a Championship team who have had patchy success over the years. Warriors, by contrast, were for many years in the eighties and nineties undisputably the best Rugby League team in the world. At their peak, Wigan's rugby league team was superior not only to any club side in the world, but regularly played and beat the national teams of mighty rugby playing nations such as Australia. While still a potent force in the game, recent changes to the structure and organisation of the game have diluted their dominance.

Wigan is one of relatively few towns in the UK to have an international-standard swimming pool in the town centre. The resident swimming club, Wigan Wasps, has produced Olympic standard swimmers, including medal winner June Croft .

The town has the very first ever branch of Marks and Spencer, the clothing and food store, and was for three years its headquarters. JJB , the sporting goods retailer, also originated in the town.

Sir Ian McKellen, the Shakespearean actor most recently famous for portraying Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings, grew up in Wigan.

One of Wigan's most successful exports are "Uncle Joe's Mintballs", refreshing boiled sweets with a mint flavour which the producers claim "keep you all aglow". The town is also associated with pies and pasties which were traditionally popular with coal miners in the area. Wiganers are often called 'Pie Eaters' - it has been suggested this name arose because the striking miners were forced back to work and made to eat humble pie .

Wigan is geographically set almost exactly between Manchester and Liverpool, and its contribution to the music scene stood in the shadow of these two powerhouses of rock and pop for many years. Having produced George Formby Snr , and his son George Formby Jnr, the film and music hall star, the town produced a number of successful acts in the 1980s including Limahl from Kajagoogoo, indie band The Railway Children , Kate Garner from Hayzi Fantayzee and Rick Astley (arguably not actually from Wigan at all, but close). More recently, the town has produced The Verve and Starsailor. The town has its own radio station, Wish FM .

Probably Wigan's most important contribution to musical culture was as the home of Northern Soul. Wigan Casino was, from 1973, the location for weekly Northern Soul all-nighters, until it was demolished after being gutted by fire in the early 1980s.