Rock superstar Richard Ashcroft reminisces on growing up in Wigan as he prepares for huge homecoming shows

As he looks forward to performing in his home town for the first time in 26 years, with two massive shows at Robin Park Arena in July, he told the Wigan Observer about his formative years in the borough.

He was born at Billinge Hospital and attended Up Holland High School and Winstanley College, where The Verve was formed and he took his first steps on the road to stardom.

They played their first gig at a friend’s 18th birthday party at the Honeysuckle pub, on Pool Street, Wigan, in August 1990 and have never looked back.

It was as a teenager that Richard started to develop a passion for music.

He said: “When I got into my teens, there were some good DJs coming down to Wigan Pier, when music was going from shiny suits and shiny shirts. Things changed culturally, just at the right time, when me and my friends were getting into music. We would get bands coming to Wigan Pier like Stone Roses.

"It was difficult to get something going. It was hard to find places to rehearse. It’s a bit like now, everything cost a lot, but it was a great place.”

Bands from Manchester inspired a young Richard, such as the Stone Roses, Happy Mondays and The Smiths.

He remembers heading to Southport and the “lovely countryside” of Rivington for days out, as well as taking advantage of Wigan’s location to travel to Manchester or Liverpool.

He said: “For me, Wigan was great. Some weekends I would go to Liverpool shopping or looking around and others I would go to Manchester. It was nice and an equidistant place to get out, it was great for that.”

And it was the people in Wigan that really made a mark on him.

He said: “I have lived in lots of areas around it, in Appley Bridge and all those areas with different flavours going.

“When my grandad was a kid, he said you couldn’t understand someone in the next village.

"At school I had a great laugh, because there was such a mix – there were Scousers, people from Wigan, Orrell, Billinge, all these different accents and humour. It was fantastic.

"I got lucky because I love pies and so I was happy as Larry on the food front. Chip shops were absolutely incredible.

"There’s a warmth that you miss when you leave. That could be an interaction with someone in a chip shop. You take that for granted, but other people don’t speak like that. There’s so much love for people and these are the kinds of things you miss.”

Richard admits he has not been back to Wigan for a while, but he still has relatives in the borough and is looking forward to returning for his shows at Robin Park Arena.

Tickets have already sold out for his gig on Saturday, July 20, but they are still available for Sunday, July 21.