We live in the real Coronation Street & it’s full of characters straight out of the Rovers Return – here’s the best part | The Sun

BRITAIN'S real-life Coronation Street is set to celebrate the crowning of King Charles but they have time for Harry and Meghan too.

Located on Salford's New Barracks estate, the street is a throwback to an reminiscent of an era when Bet Lynch, Elsie Tanner, Mike Baldwin and Jack Duckworth had the nation glued to the telly.





On Saturday the community will celebrate the coronation with a party in the square.

The neighbourhood, in the Orsdall area of Salford, has seen its own fair share of real life drama over the years when notorious
thugs ruled the streets with fear.

Locals told The Sun that the past was best forgotten and that the estate showed how Salford could change with the times.

Outsiders, including Liverpool fans, are now welcomed rather than chased down the street.

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Vicky Rothwell runs The Welcome Inn, one of the two pubs that have survived the ravages of time.

Vicky agreed that she was a "tough but fair" landlady who put up with "no nonsense."

A drinker at the bar described her as "the best."

Vicky agreed that the area was rooted in the world made famous by Coronation Street.

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She said: "One of my regulars comes in everyday and orders two halves. One day I said to him why do you always have two halves.

"He told me that somebody split his pint in 1972 so 'why take a chance'.

"The pub is full of characters like that who could easily be from The Rovers Return."

Vicky, who grew up in Orsdall, left school at 14 to work in a chippy.

She said: "I worked at Orwins which was a famous chippy in the area. Arthur Orwin ran it and also helped out at Salford Lads Club.

"That led to me getting a role there where I helped out too.
So yes I was born and bred in the estate."

Manchester United regalia adorns the pub's bar including a photograph of a jolly boys trip to Spain when the Salford lads met their hero George Best.

She said: "Yes, it's a United pub but we have a few City fans too. There is even a Liverpool fan who comes in."

Vicky said the pub has a traditional clientele but the pool table attracted a younger crowd.

She said: "You can have a pint of lager for a half of what you will pay in Manchester city centre."

Vicky, who runs the pub with her two daughters, said that the area did have a torrid past but times had changed.

She said: "I think some people just decided to grow up."

Vicky said she was not planning on hosting a party for the coronation.

She said:"We will be open but I am not putting on anything special. To be honest we are not huge fans of Charles here.

"But we do like Harry and Meghan. They are welcome to call in anytime."




Vicky said that she thought that Harry had the right to speak his mind. She said: "He is entitled to have his say."

Leslie Holmes runs Salford Lads Club, famous the world over for being on the cover of The Smiths 1986 album The Queen Is Dead.

Today the club provides sporting activities including football and boxing for hundreds of local boys and girls.

Leslie said: "Yes Morrisey was a bit obsessed with Salford playwright Shelagh Delaney, and Shelagh was a close friend of Tony Warren who wrote Coronation Street."

Leslie told The Sun that the club was formed in 1903 to deal with Peaky Blinders-style gangs that prowled Salford's docklands.

He said: "Manchester's lads club were formed in areas blighted by deprivation and crime. Ardwick, Ancoats and Salford. "

Leslie, originally from Yorkshire, said he remembers the area in the early 90s.

He said: "It was grim. This was a rough area and there were issues with crimes such as joy riding and all of that."

Leslie said the area, over time, began to slowly improve. The club has welcomed famous faces from all over the world over the years from Rocky Marciano to Noel Gallagher.

Leslie said: "We host film and fashion shoots all year round. Important scenes in Peaky Blinders have been filmed here recently."

Leslie said the club was self-funded but did receive support from local rock stars such as Tim Burgess, Peter Hook, Mike Joyce and
others.

Sylvia Davies is a founding member of New Barracks Tenant Association.

Sylvia, now a pensioner, launched a fightback in the 1970s and 80swith community worker Brian O'Neill after local yobs tried to destroy the estate.

Regent Square Park became a hotbed for trouble with thugs smashing up play equipment, pulling down concrete lamp posts
and digging up tarmac to throw at homes.

Sylvia faced down a wall of hate as she started to work with the police to bring order to the estate in the 1980s.

At one point local thugs began invading homes where they would smash up furniture, pull out fittings and start fires.

She said: "We had to go shopping early in the morning when the yobs were all asleep.

"I was often abused and attacked in the street but that was the way it was. We had to fight a battle but it was worth it in the end."

Sylvia recounted a terrifying incident when yobs managed to start up a mechanical digger in the square.

A woman sent her sons out to deal with the yobs which resulted in a fight.

Sylvia said: "When the police came out they arrested the wrong lads. I went and out told them what had happened."

Salford mum Suzanne Murray grew up in the area and now helps out at the tenants association.

She said: "This part of Salford has changed a lot over recent decades. Today it is a lot more racially diverse. Attitudes have changed over time too."

Suzanne said that she did not see herself as a Mancunian.
She said: "I am a Salfordian."

Suzanne said that the Tenants Association now provided a crucial role in the community.

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She said: "We are here to listen and help. If people have a problem they will come here.

"Often we will know someone who can help and point people in the right direction. Sometimes people just want to be able to talk about it."



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