The Rovers Return

[pinstripe]

Please can someone confirm that The Rovers Return in Corrie once had a reception hall, when was it last used and what happened to it?

[Count-A-Strong]

Do you mean in the public or private quarters? I watched a bit of that 'top 50 corrie moments' prog last night (no judgemental comments please) and dont recall seeing one. It might have had a small lobby.

[andy-hughes]

It used to have a separate small room -'the Snug' - as did many pubs of that era. it was the fifedom of Ena Sharples and friends - but it was all knocked into one pub, again as many have been.

I don't ever recall an entrance hall into the front of the pub.

BTW - Ena's phrase in Episode One - "... very bay window down there .." what a wonderful dexcription - an entire insight into northern class and snobbery in four words - fabulous!

[Bobbisox]

Ena used to go to the Mission Hall which was beside the Rovers Andy

[andy-hughes]

Ena used to live in the Mission Hall - she was the caretaker there - but she did all her socialising in the Rovers - holding forth on all she could see and hear in the main bar whcih was within eyeline and earshot of her place in The Snug.

Milk stout anyone?

[Bobbisox]

those were the heady days of black and white 14 " tellys Andy..

[andy-hughes]

Indeed - you needed to switch on at ten past seven to be sure the set was warmed up by seven-thirty!

And the National Grid nearly fell over at eight o'clock when the nation put their kettles on ...

[Bobbisox]

you were rich, we would put ours on the range..lol

[jessiedog]

Do you mean a big room somewhere out the back used for weddings ? If so then yes i remember it and have often wondered what happened to it

[andy-hughes]

Are you sure that wasn't the Glad Tidings Mission Hall jessiedog? The only accomodation at the Rovers has always been the sitting room - used from pretty early days onwards.

[craft1948]

The other bar in the Rovers was the Select. This room was reached via a small corridor along the side of the Snug. It doubled as the Street's function room - complete with stage area - and a room where patrons could drink in private away from the crowds, paying a penny more for their drinks and waitress service Hardly any-one used the facility.

At Christmas the Select would be thrown open to everyone for shows and sing-songs. Memorable moments include Minnic Caldwell reciting "The Owl And The Pussy Cat" at a party in 1969 (she could not remember more than the first verse) and Rita Littlewood's impersonation of Marlene Dietrich in a 1972 show.
Rita, a professional singer, also appeared a year later in a show put on by the local ladies as a forfeit for losing a bowls' match. The only problem was that the ladies had to present the cabaret in drag. There were boos and hisses ashen Rita walked on stage in a glittering dress and blonde wig but the men roared with laughter when she announced, in a husky voice, that she was Danny LaRue.
The last show to be put on in the Select was the 1984 talent show, in which Percy Sugden presented his terrible farm-yard impressions and Alf Roberts told awful jokes

[craft1948]

http://www.corrie.net...es/rovers/rovers2.htm

[andy-hughes]

craft - I bow to your

superior knowledge and enviable memory / researching skills -

please delete as appropriate!

[andy-hughes]

And don't forget the age-old tardis-sim - why aren't the Gents in Ken Barlow's living room?

[craft1948]

Sad isn't it Andy.......

[andy-hughes]

Not as sad as this - look what I've found -

http://www.corrie.net...es/rovers/oldrov1.gif

Now we know!