KEEPING BRIGG ON THE MAP - TOWNSFOLK REALLY WERE WORRIED

 

They really were worried in Brigg during 1976/7 about the forthcoming opening of what we now known as the M180 between Broughton and Barnetby Top, but local shopkeepers then called simply "the by-pass."

Just how serious was the loss of "passing trade" from car, van and lorry drivers going to be when  traffic had an M-way alternative to taking the A18 through Brigg past businesses on Wrawby Street, Bigby Street, the Market Place and Bridge Street? 

We've just looked out an old 12-page Our Town booklet from that period, copies of which were distributed locally by  Keep Brigg on the Map campaigners in the Seventies.

It concluded by saying "that keeping Brigg alive and prosperous after the opening of the by-pass is not something that will just happen on its own. To coin a phrase from the President of the Chamber (of Trade), Mr Walter Parker, this is something that has to be engineered."

The booket also stated: "The support received for the campaign that aims to keep Brigg a "live" town after the completion of the by-pass has been most encouraging."

All that's left now of the Keep Brigg on the Map campaign is this sign above a shop in Wrawby Street. We spotted it recently while outside JD Wetherspoon's White Horse pub.