Almost 2,000 angry fans have signed a petition to save Coronation Street’s iconic Rovers Return pub from demolition.
The St John’s Quarter site was purchased for £26million in 2013 by a joint development venture including Manchester City Council and will be turned into a new housing development.
The show’s home for over five decades is open to tourists for at least the rest of 2015 but residents are determined to save the memorable destination and the petition has almost 2,000 signatories so far.
Corrie fan Chris Speck, a Castlefield resident and signee of the petition, said: “The developers need to wake up and smell the hot pot. If Manchester wants to stand out it needs something unique and Coronation Street provides just that.
“It’s a loss of something culturally important – not just in the UK but overseas as well.
“It’s such a small space in the grand scheme of things on that 13 acre site that surely a small pocket of it could be preserved – even just the pub or the cobbles.”
Listen to MM’s Steph Brawn chat to Chris Speck:
ITV have now moved one of Britain’s oldest and most loved shows to a new site near MediaCityUK.
However, the famous cobbled street and pub are still standing, and for the moment at least, fans and tourists can still visit Manchester’s most famous street.
Coronation Street Tours are running the visits but are adamant that the site’s future is out of their hands.
“We’re just happy to be allowed to stay open for the rest of the year, and to let people see the site,” said a company representative.
Glenda Young, editor of the Coronation Street Blog, told MM she hoped there would be a lasting Corrie legacy in the city.
“It’s part of Manchester’s history, it’s part of UK cultural history and people from overseas still come over on tours to the UK and Manchester just to visit the old Corrie set,” she said.
“I would dearly love to see a little bit of the set kept, like the facade of the Rovers, or the cobbles as an entry way into whatever is to be built on the site in the future.
“It would be great if Coronation Street fan events could be staged there in the future too.”
To sign the petition, which has been signed by people all over the world, click here.
Video and audio pieces presented by Steph Brawn.
Video editing by Steph Brawn and Ben Southworth, audio editing by James Gray.
Image courtesy of JayneAndD, with thanks
