Council car parks are free at the weekend and the Grand Arcade isn't. Pick how long you're staying and where you're headed, and see what each one really costs.
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Wigan's town-centre car parks are free at the weekend — if they belong to the council. The one most people drive straight into doesn't. Pick how long you're staying and where you're headed, and this ranks the options by what they actually cost.
Three things worth knowing before you read the numbers. Every council car park below is free all day on Saturday and Sunday, and free on bank holidays too — except Water Street, which charges a flat £1.70 on a bank holiday. The Grand Arcade is run by APCOA, not the council, and charges every day. And for a full weekday, £3.00 all day at Trencherfield Mill, Sovereign Road or Haig Street beats £10.00 at Water Street, Mona Street or Harrogate Street.
Two car parks are deliberately not priced here. Chapel Lane (253 spaces, off Chapel Lane behind the Grand Arcade) is permit holders only Monday to Friday, but free for everyone at the weekend. Loire Drive, out by the Brick Community Stadium, is excluded from the free-weekend offer altogether.
Most machines now take card or phone only. Water Street and Mona Street are the two in Wigan that still take coins.
About £1.80 for this stay
The 3 cheapest options all cost the same. Pick by where you’re headed, not by price.
Water Street
Water Street, north-east of the Grand Arcade — multi-storey
≈4 min walk to the Grand Arcade and the town-centre shops
The town-centre multi-storey, and one of only two council car parks in Wigan whose machines still take coins. Free on Saturday and Sunday, but £1.70 on a bank holiday — the one exception to the free-bank-holiday rule.
£1.80
total
Monday to Friday
Saturday or Sunday: £0.00
Harrogate Street
Harrogate Street, south-east of the town centre — surface car park
≈5 min walk to the Grand Arcade and the town-centre shops
Card or phone payment only. Has a pay-and-display motorcycle stand. Free on Saturday, Sunday and bank holidays.
£1.80
total
Monday to Friday
Saturday or Sunday: £0.00
Mona Street
Mona Street, off Wallgate — surface car park
≈8 min walk to the Grand Arcade and the town-centre shops
The other Wigan car park that still takes coins, and one of the two with a pay-and-display motorcycle stand. Free on Saturday, Sunday and bank holidays.
£1.80
total
Monday to Friday
Saturday or Sunday: £0.00
Sovereign Road
Sovereign Road, east of the town centre — surface car park
≈8 min walk to the Grand Arcade and the town-centre shops
£3.00 all day Monday to Friday, free on Saturday, Sunday and bank holidays. Furthest of the cheap all-day options from the shops.
£3.00
total
Monday to Friday
Saturday or Sunday: £0.00
Trencherfield Mill
Off Wallgate at Wigan Pier — surface car park
≈12 min walk to the Grand Arcade and the town-centre shops
Pay and display Monday to Friday only, and £3.00 covers the whole day. Free on Saturday, Sunday and bank holidays. An annual permit is £170, the cheapest in town.
£3.00
total
Monday to Friday
Saturday or Sunday: £0.00
Haig Street
Haig Street, west of Wallgate — surface car park
≈14 min walk to the Grand Arcade and the town-centre shops
£3.00 all day Monday to Friday, free on Saturday, Sunday and bank holidays. No permits sold here.
£3.00
total
Monday to Friday
Saturday or Sunday: £0.00
Grand Arcade
Millgate and Crompton Street, under the shopping centre — multi-storey
run by APCOA, not the council
≈2 min walk to the Grand Arcade and the town-centre shops↕ 1.85 m height limit
The one town-centre car park with no free weekend. The prices here are its Monday-to-Saturday tariff; on a Sunday it is a flat £3.50 for the visit. Pre-booking online brings a full day down to about £4.00. Card payment, a 1.85m height limit, and it locks up in the evening.
£3.50
total
The council adds extra free-parking offers from time to time — free after 3pm in the weeks before Christmas, for instance — and those are announced on its own parking pages rather than here. Roadside pay-and-display bays are a separate tariff and are never covered by the free-weekend offer. Wigan Council — car park and permit charges