From £800 to £14,000 and a three-day music festival – Wigan keeps showing its love for the John Bull
The support for The John Bull just keeps growing, with a three-day music festival now announced, pubs raising hundreds of pounds, local businesses offering their services and the main fundraiser racing towards £15,000.
Just days after the devastating fire at the historic Wigan pub, people are continuing to find new ways to help Victoria, Pete and the John Bull team get back on their feet.
The GoFundMe set up by Wigan singer-songwriter Joe Astley has now reached over £14,000 from almost 600 donations, an incredible response considering Joe originally set the target at just £800. But the money raised online is only part of what’s happening. Joe has been out around Wigan with his guitar, playing songs and collecting for the Bull, pubs are organising their own fundraisers, musicians are giving up their time and local businesses are offering everything from roofing work to furniture.
And there is a LOT more going on too.
The biggest event announced so far is the John Bull Jukebox Weekender, a three-day live music fundraiser at The Monaco in Hindley on September 18, 19 and 20. John Norcott has offered The Monaco for the weekend, with ticket proceeds being donated to the John Bull.
Joe said: “I have never been more proud to be a Wiganer. What this town has done over the last few days is truly incredible. It really shows you can rely on people when you need them most.”
The Monaco is also inviting more bands and musicians to get involved, and Joe has made clear that the Jukebox Weekender isn’t the only benefit event being planned.
Meanwhile, The Holts Arms, (The Foot) in Billinge came up with its own way of helping.
The pub put on a barrel of beer to raise money for the John Bull and its customers managed to drink it dry in just one day. That raised another £528, which has been handed over to the fundraiser.
Businesses have been getting involved too. Grant’s Bulldog Forge had already offered to help with furniture when the time comes, while Mayor Roofing has offered to help with roofing work, the clean-up and whatever else may be needed. And Grant’s has now taken on another very important job, looking after one of the John Bull’s most recognisable residents.
The pub’s iconic fez-wearing antelope has been taken to Grant’s Bulldog Forge, where he’s been given a shampoo and will be staying until the Bull is ready to welcome him home.
Anyone who knows the John Bull will know exactly why that matters. And these are just some of the things we know about. More fundraising events are being organised, musicians and venues are getting involved, businesses are offering their trades and people across Wigan continue to come up with their own ways of helping.
And if anyone was wondering why the reaction has been quite so huge, you only need to look at the history of the place.
The Grade II-listed building is one of Wigan’s oldest, but the John Bull people know and love today is also the story of a family. Owned by Thwaites for almost 50 years, the pub has been run by the same family throughout that time, beginning with Harold and Margaret and continuing today with their daughter Victoria alongside Pete.
Over those decades it’s become a proper Wigan institution, known for its real ale, its characters and arguably the most famous jukebox in town. Earlier this year, Wigan Athletic even chose the Bull as the setting to launch the club’s new home kit.
After the fire, Victoria perhaps summed up better than anyone why the response has been so huge.
“The John Bull is a living thing,” she said. “It isn’t anybody’s pub. It belongs to all of us.”
And Wigan certainly seems to have taken that to heart.
There’s £14,163 and counting on the fundraiser, £528 raised by drinking a barrel dry in Billinge, a three-day music weekender on the way, businesses ready to roll their sleeves up and plenty more events and fundraisers still to come.
There’s even a freshly shampooed antelope in a fez being looked after until he can go home.
The John Bull might be closed for now, but Wigan clearly isn’t prepared to let it stay that way.
Long live the John Bull.
