Coronation Street - The Tour 2018
by Calvin Henry-Cotnam

I visited the cobbles on Saturday December 8, 2018. Tours run every 15 minutes and take about 80 minutes to complete. Here is the map of the set (all images on this page may be enlarged by clicking them)...

The reception area was in a building a short walk from the Media Centre UK Metrolink stop. When your tour is ready to begin, everyone is given a pass on a lanyard to wear (and keep as a souvenir). The tour begins with a short walk over a bridge to where the sound stage and outdoor set are, shown to the left.

To the right of the building, there is a security gate with double full-height turnstiles, sort of an airlock arrangement, if the wind could not blow through it. This gate occasionally makes its appearance on the show when they need to shoot someone making a prison visit. Also, occasionally making appearances is the car park immediately beyond the gate, for those times when some sort of meet-up or dodgy deal is made in some random car park. Many different angles can be used to make it look like they have all sorts of car parks at their disposal.

As one comes around the building, the first sight of the outdoor set is visible. From the photo to the right, it can be seen that much of the outdoor set is just a façade. Homes are usually nothing more than a front room beyond the front door, and there is a walkway for the upstairs windows that extends all the way down the street. Someone can appear in one of the upstairs windows of the Barlow home and walk all the way down the street appearing in everyone's windows right down the the flat above the corner shop!

While standing in the same position from where the photo to the right was taken, but turning to the left, the entrance to the sound stage building can be seen in the photo to the left. This occasionally doubles for the hospital entrance. Sorry for this shot being out of focus.

Turning again to the right, one can look straight down Viaduct Street, with the Bistro on the left facing Coronation Street to the right. The corner of a building on the opposite side of Coronation Street is the Kabin.

Incidently, when this new set was being built, special software was used to get an image of the topography of the cobbles from the old set in order to set the cobbles on the new set so that during rainy weather, puddles would be located in the same places. After shooting moved to the new set, some of the old set cobbles found their way onto the new set when the new part from Speed Dahl to Co-op was added.

Further down Viaduct Street, we can see a Freshco lorry. I am told that this truck only started making an appearance on the set about a week or two earlier, though I seem to recall seeing it pass by in the odd scene that aired just before Christmas. Episodes are shot about six to eight weeks ahead of their air date, which would mean that the lorry has been around since at least early November.

Moving down Viaduct Street, just before the corner with Coronation Street, the photo to the right shows our tour guide. Her name was Amy, which she reminded us at the end when it was suggested we comment on Trip Advisor. Though, if we didn't like the tour, her name was Tracy Barlow.

From this same location, a turn to the left gives us a view of the entrance to the Bistro. Notice the inverted arch of newer looking bricks above the Bistro. These are the bricks that replaced what was taken out by the tram crash in 2010. You may recall that the crash aired during a live episode. This meant that in the weeks before the live episode, the mess and work to clean it up was well underway on the street.

For the live episode, the brickwork had to be disassembled and the crash scene restaged. Following the live episode, the stage crew had to work quickly to restore things to the state they were in so that shooting could resume where it left off just before the live episode.

To the right, we get a better look around the corner with a better view of the Kabin. You may notice that the window is decorated for Valentine's Day, which is nearly 10 weeks away from December 8. There is a week or so with no shooting over Christmas/New Year's, so things had just been set up for shooting February air dates.

The photo to the left shows a closer look at the window. Is anyone interested in 10 pair of "mixed pants" for just £2? If so, take a look at the posting of this, and other wonders, in the Kabin's window, shown a bit closer up to the right (click on the photo and zoom in for a clearer read).

Turning to the right (but shown on the left), one gets good look all the way down Coronation Street. The corner shop is first on the right, and the medical centre can be seen at the far end of the street, on Rosamund Street.

The first house from the corner shop is number 13, Kevin's place. For those who remember, when Hilda and Stan Ogden lived at number 13, they had a seemingly endless streak of bad luck, and Hilda blamed it on the number 13. She ordered Stan to change it to 12A, which he did. She prepared a roast lamb dinner to celebrate, but when she went outside to see the new number, she inadvertently locked them both out. By the time Stan broke in, their dinner was burned. It seemed that the number 13 wasn't unlucky, Hilda and Stan were. Plus, the council ordered them to change the number back.

Moving down Coronation Street just past the Kabin, on the left we see Webster's Garage and Underworld, shown in the photo to the right. The interior of the garage is quite small, but they have recently been leaving the door half open, with a baracade to prevent entry, so the interior can be seen.

Stepping towards the entrance to Underworld, if one turns around, the view back towards the corner shop is shown in the photo on the left.

Turning back around towards Underworld, but a bit to the right, we can see number 8, the Platts' house, along with the Underworld van. Behind the van, one can see the gate to the Platts' back garden, but this could not be opened, though it was possible to peek through for a small glimpse.

However, with the help of a selfie stick, my phone could peer over the fence to take the photo seen to the left. Behind the back fence, the gate to Nuttall's Brewery, which is not labelled on the map above. We shall see the front of this gate later on.

Turning back around to head down Coronation Street, we get a better view of the front of number 13 in the photo to the right.

Continuing a few steps down the road, we see the entrances to number 11, Eileen's, and number 9, the Dobbs'. The tour guide mentioned the cladding on number 9 that was installed by Vera Duckworth. Hoping it would increase the value of the property, its value went down by about a grand. No one else on the tour could recall the name Vera gave to the house at the time, "The Rectory". Of course, shortly after a prankster altered "Rectory" to "Wreck", she removed the name plaque.

You may recall back when Dennis Tanner returned, there was mention of his name in the concrete of the window sill of number 11. The photo to the right shows this.

Moving further down the street, we see the entrances to number 7, the Alahans', and number 5, Chesney's.

You may notice that number 7 looks somewhat newer than the rest of the houses on the street. In 1965, producers were looking to cut costs and did so by eliminating a family. The family (the Hewitts) moved out before the house collapsed, but one less house meant they didn't have to replace the family. For several years, a pile of rubble remained on the site before it was finally cleared and a small park/garden was put in its place. This park is where Gail Potter (Tilsley, Platt, Hillman, McIntyre, Rodwell) first made here appearance on the street. Eventually, number 7 was rebuilt by Len Fairclough.

Not to forget the even-number side of the street, looking to the other side from this location, we can see number 6, the Nazirs' house centred by number 8, the Platts' on the left, and number 4, the Metcalfes' on the right.

Viewed from under the awning of Audrey's salon, the photo on the left shows number 3, Norris' house, and number 1, the Barlows'. The new set has a small ginnel between the Barlows' and the Rovers since many viewers commented on how anyone using the gents at the pub were really weeing in Ken's kitchen sink.

The photo to the right shows a closer view of number 4, the Metcalfes', with a glimpse of Audrey's salon to the right.

A closer view of the front of Audrey's salon appears to the left.

The photo below to the right is looking from the corner of Coronation and Rosamund Streets with the Rovers on the right in the foreground.

Beyond the arch is the joinery that was in the plans for a shop for both Brian and Cathy as well as Daniel and Sinead. Not much goes on there until some new plot makes use of this.

Through the small arch along the wall of the Rovers is the access to the ginnel behind the homes on this side of the street. From the ginnel, the outdoor lounge/patio of the Rovers can be seen, as shown in the photo to the left.

Across Rosamund Street from the Rovers is the medical centre and the chippy, For Your Fries Only, shown closer up in the photo to the right.

Another photo to the left shows the medical centre and chippy from the corner in front of Audrey's salon.

From this same location, if one turns to the left, Preston's Petals is the next thing on Rosamund Street, at the corner with Victoria Street.

As seen to the right, the Kabab shop and Roy's Rolls are across Victoria Street from Preston's Petals.

A closer view of the flower shop can be seen at the left.

The flower shop looks a bit more ready for spring than for Valentine's day. The flower shop is one of the few places on the outdoor set that has an interior that is used for shooting.

The photo to the right shows the view heading down the middle of Rosamund Street towards the kabab shop, Prima Donner. The building behind the kabab shop is Nuttall's Brewery. Before we get a closer look at the kabab shop, we'll look around the corner to the left.

Looking around the corner to the left shown in the photo on the left, we see one of the Streetcars vehicles with the gate to Nuttall's Brewery behind it.

The vehicle is parked outside the Streetcars office, as shown in the photo to the right. As mentioned earlier, much of the outdoor set is just a façade, so it was not unusual to see people on the tour peeking through letter slots to see if this was the case as we see with the Streetcars office.

Turning back around, we get a view of Prima Donner shown in the photo to the left. Like the flower shop, the kabab shop has an interior that is used for shooting.

While the kabab shop is not very large, it looks even smaller up close and in person as seen on the right. They say the camera adds 10 pounds to people, but I would add it also adds extra square footage to spaces.

Moving down Victoria Street, we see Roy's Rolls (with another letter slot peeker) and the community centre in the photo to the left. Those who remember Fred Elliott and Ashley Peacock will know the community centre is located where the butcher shop was.

At one point, Leanne lived in the flat above the community centre. You may notice from the photo there is a lack of an entrance for this flat. We shall see shortly where the odd location of this entrance is for shooting purposes.

Next to the community centre is a home that currently does not have occupants, or at least none that are characters on the show. Next to this home is where Barlow Legal Services is located.

Across Victoria Street from the community centre to the law office are the builder's yard and its flat.

The photo to the left shows the builder's yard with the former gym beyond it.

If one continues just past the builder's yard, and turns back, the photo on the right shows the view looking back at the builder's yard and gives a view of its flat.

From that same position, turning a bit to the right is the view looking back down Victoria Street is shown to the left. The first door visible on the right is the law office.

The photo to the right shows the now-closed gym, which is not labelled on the map. There are currently no plans for anything to take its place, but with construction fencing and signage up around it, it provides a reason for the presence of construction workers.

Looking around the corner where the law office is, we see the entrance to the Victoria Court Apartments on the right. The door in the corner to the left is the entrance for the flat above the community centre. This location would mean there is some corridor from the flat through the back space of the upstairs parts of the "unused" home and the law office.

Continuing down Victoria Street, passing the Victoria Court Apartments, we see the entrance to the car park for the apartments. However, passing though the entrance reveals something totally different...

Not labelled on the map, we come to where the police station is located. The police station is another location with an actual interior, as seen in the lower photo to the left.

The photo to the right shows the area around the corner from the entrance to the police station.

From here, we move back through the opening to return to Victoria Street where we turn left and continue to the newest part of the outdoor set.

This newest part was added some time after shooting moved to Media Centre UK.

This later addition was constructed after the old set was being dismantled, which permitted the reuse of cobbles from the former set here.

Speaking of the former set, its streets were narrower than the current set. On the former set, streets were not wide enough for two cars to pass, while the new set has streets wide enough for vehicles to pass each other. With the narrower streets, actors had to learn to take smaller steps so that they would appear to be taking enough steps to cross a properly wide street.

Moving down this part of Victoria Street, we first come to Speed Daal on the left. At the end of the street are the Costa Coffee shop and the Weatherfield Co-op shop, both with interiors that are about four feet deep.

Past Speed Daal on the left (in the photo to the right) we come to the Weatherfield Snookerhall and the tattoo parlour, Tattoo'll Do Nicely. I'm waiting for the tattoo parlour to find its way into a scene on the show.

Continuing on the left side of the street, just before the corner, is the Weatherfield North Metrolink tram station entrance. Interestingly, while the station uses realistic-looking signage for the fictional Weatherfield North station, the station has ticket windows on a system that exclusively uses ticket vending machines. Leave it to the transit enthusiast in me to notice this.

Across from the snooker hall and tattoo parlour is the Victoria Street Comunity Garden. The photo on the right was taken with the Costa Coffee shop to my back.

The photo on the left was taken with Speed Daal to my back.

This where the tour comes to an end. It was very interesting to see things up close and hear some of the back stories. Seeing it and walking through it gives a great perspective that changes the way one sees things take place on the show. I highly recommend seeing this for yourself if you get the chance.