Wigan pub chain boss: shelved projects, new plans, another health scare and being turned down by Gogglebox

The redevelopment of the eyesore Grimes Arcade off King Street doesn’t look like it’s going to be happening any time soon either because Tony Callaghan will only invest when the currently stalled Royal Court Theatre restoration project gets motoring again.

But the man who runs the Fifteens chain of watering holes is far from abandoning his beloved home town and has submitted plans to create 34 apartments over business premises he owns on Wallgate.

And he is also considering applying to create 60 to 70 apartments on the corner of King Street West and Dorning Street which would involve demolishing the premises currently occupied by his clubs Indiependence and The Loft (which would be moved to other town centre locations) and building on the land and the neighbouring site of the long-razed Pemps Nightclub.

A busy time then for a man who was struck down by a heart attack two years ago and was told he had suffered another one a few months back, although this second emergency, thankfully, turned out to be a misdiagnosis.

All the while this larger-than-life character, who has been making occasional TV appearances for years, was being groomed for stardom on the hit Channel 4 reality series Gogglebox only for producers recently to give back word.

The 63-year-old, however, is far from downhearted. He said: “I’ve always had a que sera sera type of person. I take each opportunity or challenge as it comes. If the Gogglebox gig had come off, I’d have had a bit of fun and that would’ve been great, but it didn’t work out so you move on. It’s not like I’m short of things to do.”

Mr Callaghan says he is saddened, though, that his plans for the lovely and large old GPO building, first revealed by Wigan Today in March 2021, seem unlikely to get off the ground.

He had talked of bringing back afternoon dinner dances, having a large bar and food area, renting out other parts to restaurateurs and also creating offices.

But even though the plans were hatched in the depths of a pandemic when it was hoped that things would recover to pre-Covid times, he says that such a rebound has failed to materialise.

As for the long dilapidated Grimes Arcade, Wiganers’ patience will be tested further because Mr Callaghan won’t commit to its renovation – possibly incorporating an up-market coffee bar on a mixed-use ground floor, flats on the upper storeys and a comedy club in the basement – until other parts of the King Street renaissance begin to stir.

The catalyst for the once hugely popular hospitality thoroughfare’s rehabilitation was to have been the rebirth of the Royal Court Theatre.

But as Wigan Today has reported already this year, the Old Courts community interest company has been forced to put that project on the back burner because it got into financial difficulties caused by renovations at its base on Crawford Street putting two of its main revenue-generating venues out of commission. For now the Old Courts are concentrating on getting that site up and running again.

How long it will be before it can turn its attention to the theatre on King Street again, no-one is prepared to predict.

Mr Callaghan said: “I had big ideas for the GPO but with all the things happening in Wigan town centre I can’t see myself putting anything in there at the moment. There is simply not the footfall.

"Businesses are rattling already to get people into their venues without any more coming on the scene. To do something like the GPO project now, I would only have to describe myself as a fool.

"I only bought it to do something special and it remains just an empty building at the moment. But if anyone approaches with some good and viable ideas I’ll be all ears.

"As for Grimes Arcade, that’s on hold. The theatre renovation is the catalyst.

"For us (Mr Callaghan is working with fellow businessman Neil Kay) to press ahead at the moment would be a big risk.

"There are not enough people coming into Wigan – nowhere near as many as there used to be. You only have to go into town on a Thursday or Friday evening to see that. The truth is that Wigan still hasn’t recovered from Covid.

"Things are going to change, that’s for sure, but in which direction when our youngsters spend so much time on their phones and tablets and social habits continue to change, is difficult to tell. I hope it will be for the better.

"I was recently in Porto and you couldn’t find a supermarket anywhere. But you could find butchers, bakers and candestick-makers everywhere.

"Things can improve. You only have to go up the road to Chorley and see what a vibrant place it has become.”

And Mr Callaghan is certainly not abandoning the town, pointing out that he wouldn’t have invested in so many properties there if he didn’t have a special bond with the place.

In fact one of his next projects is bidding to help repopulate it. An application has been submitted to create 34 apartments from the largely empty upper floors of the buildings he owns on Wallgate (ground floor tenants include a Chinese takeaway and the bookie Coral).

He said that he has already had offers to buy flats even before the blueprint has been before planners, which he sees as very encouraging.

Another redevelopment might also emerge on King Street West.

Mr Callaghan said: “I’ve long had that spare land that used to be occupied by Pemps nightclub. I’m currently weighing up the pros and cons of using it – and the land currently taken by Indiependence and The Loft – for more accommodation, say 60 to 70 apartments.

"If I did go for it, and it was approved, I could easily move the clubs to another site; I have plenty of vacant properties.”

And while all this has been going on Mr Callaghan has had another health scare following his heart attack in December 21.

He had been away on a business trip in the autumn and was at Malaga Airport about to make his journey home when he suddenly felt ill.

He said: “My heart was beating out of control. Since my heart attack I have got an ECG on Amazon and it can send readings to your phone. It’s one of the best things I’ve ever bought.

"It said my heart was doing 220 to 240 beats a minute when the normal range should be 90 to 120. I had had atrial fibrillation (AF) before and put it down to that and it usually quickly passes, so like a fool I got on the plane.”But I colntinued to feel awful on the journey and when Bev and Sam (Mr Callaghan’s wife and son) met me at the airport they said I looked dreadful and took me straight to Warrington Hospital.

"They said I had AF but they couldn’t get it down. AF does frighten the life out of you at the best of times.

"They had taken blood samples and found high levels of the protein troponin which is indicative of a heart attack and a doctor eventually came back and said ‘sorry, you have had a heart attack.’

"I said that I did not feel like I had had one but they admitted me. The cardiac team saw me and I showed them the readings from my ECG and then they did an ultra-scan and an angiogram and discovered that my heart looked exactly as it did after my attack two years ago, so it was finally decided that I hadn’t had one after all. AF can cause troponin to surge too so that had given them the wrong impression.”

After a change of medication Mr Callaghan is feeling much better and has also made lifestyle changes such as eating healthier and trying to exercise more, although the need for a knee replacement – which isn’t going to happen any time soon because he has to wear a brace on it for six months first – is hampering the latter somewhat.

For a time he thought he might be spending quite a long time on the sofa when Gogglebox came calling at the beginning of the year.

Mr Callaghan said: “I had been on the Channel 4 programme The Last Leg in January doing a spot on the World Pie-Eating Championships when a very senior person from the channel buttonholed me and said I should be on Gogglebox.

"It’s not a show you audition for: you have to be asked. They have scouts going out finding ordinary people who they think will be good in front of the cameras.

"I had to look for someone to do it with. Initially I thought about Sam, but now he’s a physio for Leeds United I thought it would be tricky for him; and Bev is not the type of person who pushes herself forward so I didn’t want her out of her comfort zone. My sister-in-law didn’t want to do it but then my friend Roger came to mind. He’s a great character with real wit and we always have a laugh when we’re together.

"I approached him and he was comfortable with doing it.

"We took part in an interview process which involved us watching various television clips and showing us pictures on Zoom in order to provoke reactions and comments. And the immediate feedback was that they were ecstatic and we were ideal for the show.

"But then it went quiet for a while and finally they came back and told us that, actually, they wouldn't be using us after all.

"Maybe some of our views didn’t chime with them right or perhaps they decided they’ve already got too many northerners in the show and need some more soft southerners instead. I’ll probably never know.

"Like I said, missing out wasn’t the end of the world. I’m not bothered. I always take life as it comes and will continue to do so.”