A Stroll Along the Coronation Street Cobbles

On New Year's Day hubby, my Mum and I were up and at 'em early (what luck none of us had bothered staying up til midnight to ring in the New Year...) as we headed to Granada Studios in Manchester to visit the old Coronation Street set. We are all big fans of the show so were probably a little over-excited, to say the least and our 'fan-dom' was evident when between us we managed to answer nearly all of the questions that the tour guide asked on our way round the sets (we were actually starting to feel a bit embarrassed of ourselves come the end.) The tour starts with a short film looking back over the highlights of the past several decades of Corrie, followed by a look round some of the inside sets (no photos allowed, unfortunately) including Carla's flat, Gayle's house, the Duckworth's back room and then, the highlight of the inside part of the tour, The Rovers Return. Clearly this is only going to mean something to you if you actually watch the programme, so apologies to anyone who isn't quite such a fan as I am (and if you're not, why not?!?) After the sets we had a chance to look at some props including Hayley's cardboard coffin, Hilda Ogden's curlers, Vera Duckworth's hairnet, Deirdre's glasses and lots more (I know, it really doesn't sound very interesting unless you are a Corrie fan, does it?!) And then, finally, the moment we'd all been waiting for, a short countdown and the doors of Nick's Bistro were thrown open giving us our first view of The Street, cue the music and action:

With the chance to wander up and down those famous cobbles

And pretend to go into a few of the famous properties; here's hubby paying Gayle, David, Kylie, etc a visit

Before stopping for a pint of Newton and Ridley's finest

I'm holding my bag like that in homage to Roy Cropper and his infamous shopping bag, in case you were wondering why I look even more of a wally than usual...

Here's a view down the ginnel behind the terrace houses

Time to pick up a quarter of sherbert lemons and a copy of the Weatherfield Gazette

Not forgetting a pint of milk and a loaf

Before jumping on the bus and heading for Eccles...

What a great morning we had and I would thoroughly recommend it to any Corrie fan; there is talk that this old set is going to be demolished to make way for apartments, shops and office buildings. I can't say I'm surprised since it's a prime area of real estate right in the middle of Manchester, but it will certainly be a pity that a piece of television history will be lost for good (although if you're not a big fan you probably won't feel too fussed!)