We call upon: 

1. Manchester Quays Ltd to amend the St John’s Quarter Regeneration Framework so that the most iconic part of the Coronation Street set is retained as described later,
2. Manchester City Council not to approve the Framework without such amendment, and  
3. ITV to modify any legal condition they may have made when selling their land that would prevent such amendment.   

Background and argument

In 2012 ITV moved from central Manchester to MediaCityUk at Salford Quays where they built a new set for their Coronation Street soap opera. In 2013 they sold their 13 acre site to Manchester Quays Ltd, a joint venture between Allied London and Manchester City Council.

In October 2014 the City Council approved a new Regeneration Framework for the area, now known as St John’s Quarter, subject to consultation to be carried out by 19 January 2015. The Framework is at:  www.manchester.gov.uk/stjohns ;

We think the Framework is great, providing the basis for a fabulous, inspirational, vibrant and mixed-use city neighborhood. We applaud the two concepts underlying the plan:

The Village – a tight-knit, high-density urban grain of 5 to 7 storey mixed-use buildings -  workspace, studios, retail, leisure, housing - within a meandering network of public spaces and narrow streets, with ground floors for retail, first floors for small creative businesses and floors above as apartments, each one, on whatever floor, having its own garden.

The Sky – a series of elegant high-rise residential towers by the River Irwell floating over The Village, defining the edge of the neighourhood and providing views across the city.

We welcome the way the plan includes The Factory, Manchester, a new £78 million large-scale ultra-flexible arts space providing a permanent home for the Manchester International Festival (MIF); retains the mature Breeze Studio gardens, now private and walled but to become public, linking across to St John’s Gardens opposite; retains Granada House by Ralph Tubbs (designer of the 1951 Festival of Britain ‘Dome of Discovery’), one of the first examples of curtain walling in Manchester; re-creates historic building lines along several streets; and uses the fine Bonded Warehouse for new workspace, including studios for creative industries, start-ups and collaborative working.

BUT we cannot see why even a part of the iconic Coronation Street set cannot be retained. 

Within 6 months of its launch in 1960, Coronation Street was the most-watched programme on British television. In 2014 viewing figures peaked at nearly 10 million. The soap has been exported to over 40 countries and has an international fan base, probably greater than any other soap, particularly in Canada and New Zealand.

With its strong characters and richly comic writing, Coronation Street is rooted in the ‘kitchen sink drama’ of the late 1950’s (e.g. Look Back in Anger, A Taste of Honey etc). As English Heritage has said, it is “a hugely influential cultural icon, the oldest and longest running television ‘soap opera’ in Britain. It was ground-breaking in its time, introducing the lives of ordinary people from the north of England to the wider public for the first time”. Its archetypical characters equal those in Restoration comedy and Charles Dickens. One of its fans, Sir John Betjeman, Poet Laureate, likened it to Pickwick Papers.

Jonathan Schofield, Editor of Manchester Confidential, has said: “Even if Corrie is not your cup of tea, or your pint of mild, it’s been in the hearts and minds of millions of fans around the UK and across the world for more than five decades. For Brits it’s part of growing up and growing old, either something to watch yourself or as part of the cultural background noise”.

It is as much part of Manchester and UK cultural history as Elizabeth Gaskell, the Halle Orchestra, John Barbirolli, Anthony Burgess, Manchester United, Manchester City, the Smiths, Tony Wilson and Factory Records.

The set was started in 1982. In the main, structures are 70% of full-size buildings with filming used to make them seem larger. They form the most famous TV set in the UK. English Heritage has said that the set has “strong cultural interest as one of the pre-eminent entertainment productions of the second half of the twentieth century. ...A purpose built permanent outdoor set location is extremely rare for any television programme”.

The set is loved by millions worldwide. From 1989 to 1999 Granada Studio Tours attracted half a million visitors a year. The main reason they came was the Coronation Street set. In the first 2 months after Coronation Street tours opened in March 2014, the set was visited by 100,000 people. It has also been visited by Alfred Hitchcock, Dustin Hoffman, Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair.

At the moment when you walk down the cobbled street past the Rovers Return or go inside the pub interior, you’re having the unique experience of walking where Ena Sharples, Annie Walker, Bet Lynch, Hilda and Stan Ogden, Vera and Jack Duckworth, Elsie Tanner, Alf Roberts and many other famous and much loved characters have walked before you. You’ll never have this experience at the new set in Salford because these characters or the actors who played them have retired or died.   

We accept that retaining the whole external set and the internal sets building is unrealistic. It would occupy too much land and prevent creation of a new neighbourhood.  And, as the Framework says, “the bland brick box of the internal set” adds nothing to the character of the Conservation Area.

We also understand ITV may not wish to see the complete set retained.  With filming continuing at Salford Quays for many years to come, ITV would not want their ‘brand’ weakened by Tours running at their old set only two miles away, no longer under their control and in competition with Tours they might wish to run at their new set.  We suspect sale of their land to Manchester Quays Ltd contained a legally binding condition that the set could not be retained.

But surely at least part of this iconic set, loved by millions world-wide, could be retained?

The 1982 ‘Victorian terrace’ on the north side of Coronation Street with the Rovers Return at one end and a shop at the other, consists of three-dimensional and complete buildings constructed in genuine materials - re-used Salford brick and slate roofs. Most other ‘buildings’ on the set use construction materials not usually used for functioning buildings, have no interiors and are little more than facades. The ‘Victorian terrace’ is also the most memorable part of the set. It’s the image you first think of when you think of Coronation Street.

 So we suggest 3 possible options:

1.    Retain Coronation Street itself but none of the other streets within the external set. Retain the street name, the cobbled street surface and terrace on the north side or its façade. Use the Rovers Return as a pub and the rest of the terrace both as a pub extension and for the type of small creative workshops and business units envisaged elsewhere in the Framework area. The street would become like any other street in the area. It would just happen to be called Coronation Street (no doubt an attractive business address for many) and would happen to have a world famous pub on one corner. Or:

2.    Same as (1) above except use the space within the terrace not for workshops etc but all as an extension of the Rovers Return creating a sizeable pub. Or:

3.    Retain the street name, cobbled surface and only the Rovers Return, with the rest of the north side of the street being an entirely new building inside and out.

If possible, in all 3 options, reposition or replicate the interior set of the Rovers Return as one room within the pub, maybe using other interior sets or artefacts as parts of or features within other rooms.   

We hope the merit of these options will be apparent to Allied London, the City Council and ITV. The set wouldn’t be a fee-charging tourist attraction possibly in competition with the new set in Salford but rather integrated for ever into the fabric of the city as a living and changing part of it. Footfall and liveliness in this part of the neighbourhood -and economic benefit to the city as a whole - would be guaranteed. 

There’s already business interest. In February 2012, Manchester Confidential asked William Lees-Jones, boss of Manchester brewers JW Lees, if he’d be interested in taking over the pub. He said: “Of course we would. In a shot…..If Manchester is serious about tourism we need a few more things to do for families and for the general visitor aside from markets and museums….The Corrie set coming free is a brilliant opportunity that’s come the city’s way. It must be grabbed with both hands."

The Regeneration Framework aims for a “form of development that retains and re-utilises some of the existing studio space for a range of uses including music, theatre, leisure” so as to create a “holistic cultural destination” and a “distinctive, multi-layered character that encompasses past, present and future.” 

Sir Howard Bernstein, City Council Chief Executive, says that “a critical aspect of the Framework’s vision is to retain the rich history of the site”.

Demolition of the entire Coronation Street set, leaving no trace behind, would not achieve these aims. Any of our 3 options would. 

As part of the Consultation on the St John’s Quarter we therefore call upon:

1. Manchester Quays Ltd to amend  the Regeneration Framework so that the most iconic part of the Coronation Street set is retained as described in the three options above

2. Manchester City Council not to approve the Framework without such amendment,and

3. ITV to modify any legal condition they may have made when selling their land that would prevent such amendment.