Hilarity as Google claims Wigan is phoney

Well, that’s according to mammoth internet search engine Google.

It has a new tool called AI Overview which summarises documents and articles and one Wigan Today reader was highly amused to see that if you type in “Wallace and Gromit” – that lovable, animated, Oscar-winning duo – it gets its fact and fantasy rather muddled.

As we revealed many years ago, creator Nick Park does indeed give little hints in more than one of his films that the inventor and his pet dog are Wigan residents.

But that shouldn’t lead to the following Google claim: “Wallace and Gromit are set in a fictitious town called Wigan in the county of Lancashire, England.

"They live at the address 62 West Wallaby Street...”

Wigan Council leader David Molyneux said: “Well this is a turn-up for the books. I’d better go and check our council tax records!

"We should point out to the search engine, however, that we very firmly do exist and doing well for ourselves.

"Our trophy cabinets are full, lots of people know about us and we are well and truly on the map.”

John Winnard, co-director of Wm Santus and Co who make Uncle Joe’s Mint Balls, said: “This is hilarious. Wigan is not just known in Britain but many other parts of the world too, whether it be for its rugby, football, wrestling, heritage or boiled sweets.

"It just goes to show you shouldn’t believe everything you read on the internet!”

Mr Park at first claimed that his plasticine characters inhabited a fictional northern town which wasn’t anywhere in particular.

But then in the award-winning short The Wrong Trousers, Gromit receives a birthday card and, for a fleeting second, the word “Wigan” can be seen on the envelope.

Then in the feature-length film The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, a Wigan A-Z can be seen on the dashboard of the pair’s Anti-Pesto van.

Life-sized Wallace and Gromit figures paid a visit to Wigan, including its famous Pier, back in 2013, shortly before Latics pulled off their astonishing FA Cup Final win against Manchester City.

Hopefully the Football Association won't be asking for the team’s replica trophy back on the grounds that it was won by a team from a non-existent place.