Coronation Street is the world's longest-running TV soap-opera and a hugely popular national institution. From the moment the very first episode flickered onto our screens on 9 December 1960, the very heart of the show has always been the Rovers Return public house. It may just be a backstreet boozer, but TV's most famous pub has been at the centre of the action week in week out for the last 53 years.
As longest-serving barmaid Betty once sagely noted: 'If you're not being talked about in this pub, you're not worth serving', and under the watchful eye of legendary landladies such as Annie Walker, Bet Lynch and Liz McDonald, the Rovers has witnessed everything from births, deaths, brawls and break-ups, to weddings, wakes and even its own ghost. But despite any drama that may be about to unfold, regulars are guaranteed a warm welcome, a shoulder to cry on and more often than not the waft of a hearty hotpot seeping through from the kitchen out back.
This year proved to be the Rovers' most explosive to date when the pub was ripped apart by a devastating blaze, rocking the lives of the residents forever. As the boozer was gradually restored to its former glory, it hit home to the regulars just how much the heart of their community really meant to them...
Including exclusive access to the Coronation Street archives, THE ROVERS RETURN STORY celebrates over five decades of tears and laughter inside Weatherfield's iconic watering hole. It's the book no fan would want to be without.
