Plans to transform the former Walkabout bar on King Street into a new gym have fallen through after a key investor pulled out.
Six months ago, the plans attracted thousands of views on social media after Personal Trainer Matt Alsop shared a video, taking people around the old Walkabout explaining how it would be transformed into a new fitness centre. This week, he returned to social media with a very different message.
“We’ve lost the bar in Wigan,” he said.
“We’ve been working for six months to get this through and we were so close, and it fell through at the last moment. An investor dropped out. No hard feelings. Times change, situations change.
“It does mean we can’t have that building anymore, but hopefully that means there’s going to be something better around the corner.”
Matt said he was “gutted”, but added: “We go again.” He also thanked the people who had followed the project, saying: “This is definitely not the end of the journey.”
The plans had been seen by many as another chance to get one of King Street’s empty buildings back into use.
Walkabout was a fixture of Wigan’s nightlife for years before it closed. Since then, the building has had a few false starts. The latest came in 2024 when local businessmen Jon Vose and Adrian Heaton reopened it as The Old Walkabout. Banking on people’s memories of the original, they brought back live sport, pool tables, darts and entertainment, but the bar closed again after only a few months.
Now the gym plans have gone the same way, and it’s anyone’s guess what happens to the building next, and it remains one of several buildings on King Street still without a clear future.
What used to be Jumpin’ Jaks is still waiting for a new lease of life. After being damaged by fire last year, plans have been submitted to turn it into a mixed-use development with three commercial units on the ground floor and 18 flats above.
Then we’ve got what used to be Revolution at the bottom of King Street. That closed in August 2024 and had been on the market for over a year, but it has recently been confirmed it is under offer.
The future of the Royal Court Theatre, remains uncertain too. Wigan Council says work has been ongoing in recent months to put the back into a safe, and stable condition, as a basis for future works to bring the premises back into active use. A critical element of these works has been to remove dry rot identified in the building, but there is still no indication of when it will be finished or what the building will eventually be used for.
For now, the old Walkabout remains empty once again, waiting to see whether another idea comes along.
