Best at the bar: A look back at the top Rovers Return workers.

The Rovers Return has been the core focal point of Coronation Street throughout its 60 years. If the beer-soaked bar and tables could talk they would have plenty of tales to tell about loves won and lost, broken hearts, plans of crime, revenge, infidelity, lust and power. But at other times it has just been the place where people congregate for a gossip or to simply bond as a community and have a yarn and a catch-up. Listening to, and contributing to, all these stories have been a vast array of Rovers Return workers. TV Guide has singled out 10 of the most memorable women and three of the top blokes behind that beloved bar for special mention.

1. Annie Walker (Doris Speed)

If the Rovers Return was Weatherfield’s castle, landlady Annie Walker was its queen. She was an unabashed snob who loved to flaunt her airs and graces. Annie viewed herself as akin to royalty and the locals were her loyal subjects. She preferred the refined company of university-educated Kenneth Barlow to lower-class Street residents such as Hilda Odgen and their conversational banalities. Annie shared the daily running of the Rovers with her long-suffering but loyal husband Jack and when he died in 1970, Annie took over as sole owner and ran the Rovers on her own until her retirement in 1984.

2. Betty Turpin/Williams (Betty Driver)

Betty was the Rovers’ longest-serving barmaid, starting work there in 1969 and continuing (with the odd hiccup or two) until the actor’s death, aged 91, in October 2011. Betty’s legacy still lingers in the Rovers today with her photo hanging on the wall and Betty’s hotpot remains a favourite on the menu. Although in latter years she was largely a supporting character, Betty established herself as a Rovers fixture with her straightforward, no-nonsense manner. In 2010, Betty Driver said of her character: “Coronation Street characters tend to fit into one of two camps. Those who have drama after drama and those who muddle through life, often in the background, as sturdy and dependable as the famous cobbles. Betty falls into the latter group.”

3. Bet Lynch/Gilroy (Julie Goodyear)

Perhaps the most famous of all Coro barmaids, Bet started work behind the

bar for Annie Walker before ending up running the place herself (and alongside her husband Alec Gilroy). Bet could come across as tough and hard-nosed but beneath that steely veneer lay a tender heart full of vulnerabilities that were too often exposed by the blokes she fell for. She had her own sense of style with her trademark leopard print clothes and beehive hairstyle leaving a lasting imprint on those who followed.

4. Liz McDonald (Beverley Callard)

Liz was another worker who had a bigger vision than being a barmaid and ended up running the Rovers with her son Steve. Like Bet, she built a tough shield around her but was so often manipulated by the people she grew close to. Her relationship with her husband Jim was fiery but passionate, and although he frequently let her down, the spark between the pair was never fully extinguished. Beverley Callard has come and gone from the Street several times since her debut in 1989 and is due to film another exit scene next year.

5. Raquel Wolstenhulme (Sarah Lancashire)

Raquel was the classic ditzy blonde barmaid who was always a little slow on the uptake. With her long blonde locks and trim figure, she was a magnet for men but she was so often let down by them. In 1992, she started work at the Rovers but coupled this job

with modelling and always had dreams of a bigger, better life. She married Curly Watts, on the rebound from the cheating Des Barnes, but really only hooked up with Curly because he was safe and secure. She walked out on a heartbroken Curly in 1996 and returned briefly in 2000 to ask him for a divorce. She was naive and gullible but was also a fan favourite and has been described as “the jewel in the Rovers’ crown”.

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6. Natalie Horrocks/ Barnes (Denise Welch)

Lock up your husbands! Natalie featured on Coronation Street for less than four years (1997-2000) but created a huge impact, not least for having an affair with Kevin Webster and wrecking his marriage to Sally and then marrying Des Barnes, who was later murdered.

Natalie was another barmaid who graduated to the Rovers ownership ranks. She could turn on the charm and had an eye for the men, an attraction which was often reciprocated. However, most women on the Street couldn’t stand her and were happy to see the back of her.

7. Shelley Unwin (Sally Lindsay)

Shelley was a well-liked barmaid who had a heart of gold and thought the best of everyone. But this meant she could be taken advantage of as evidenced by her relationship with the abusive and controlling Charlie Stubbs (who was eventually killed by Tracy Barlow) and unwittingly being in a bigamous marriage to Peter Barlow. Fred Elliott was the owner of the Rovers Return during much of Shelley’s tenure and did his best to look after her in his fatherly, if overwhelming, fashion (I say overwhelming fashion). Shelley also worked with her interfering mum Bev.

8. Michelle Connor (Kym Marsh)

A sense of style can be important in bar work and Michelle Connor had this in abundance. Her vivacious nature brightened up the Rovers but she also often had to put on a mask to face her public, and hide from the tumult going on in her private life – including her on-again off-again relationship with Steve McDonald. “The good thing about playing a character like her,” says Marsh, “she’s got so many sides. She can be a bitch, she can be sensitive and she can be feisty too. She’s just so well-rounded.”