‘Tony would sit in the cafe and earwig mums and battleaxes to get inspiration for Corrie...’
PLAQUE HONOUR FOR SOAP CREATOR IN PARK WHERE HE’D WALK HIS DOGS
TONY Warren would have a brew at a greasy spoon on Swinton Precinct and eavesdrop on the chatter of local women.
For the man who created Coronation Street, it was a gold mine of gritty northern humour and sharp-tongued one-liners.
Customers’ banter and straighttalking inspired Tony as he prepared scripts for forceful characters, such as barmaid Bet Lynch and Rovers Return regulars.
He lived in Swinton for 30 years and was well known to locals.
One of Tony’s favourite haunts was Victoria Park, as he lived nearby.
He would regularly walk his beloved dogs there and stop for a natter with the neighbours, who knew him as ‘Tone.’
When he had writer’s block, it was a way of kick-starting his talent of capturing real life. Now the perfect way of paying tribute to Tony, who died two years ago, has been found.
A plaque commemorating him has gone up on The Gatehouse, a blue hut in the park, which is used as a community centre for armed services veterans.
The plaque was organised with the help of Salford Community Leisure who maintain the park.
Paul Taylor, a retired cabbie, said: “I used to pick up Tony from Park Avenue in Swinton frequently.
“He loved living there. He always had stories to tell about Swinton and Pendlebury.
“He told me that in his early writing days he’d sit in a cafe on Swinton Precinct just after 9am when the mums had dropped their kids at school.
“He’d sit for hours sometimes, drinking endless cups of tea and earwigging their gossip and conversations and used it for inspiration.
“The cafe didn’t have a customer loo back then so he’d hold on until he was bursting and then go to use the public toilets at Lancastrian Hall as he didn’t want to miss a minute of those conversations.”
Also attending the unveiling of the plaque was former Corrie actor, writer and director, Noreen Kershaw, a close friend of Tony.
She said: “He loved Victoria Park and he could have moved many times but he chose to stay living in Swinton. He loved his house on Park Avenue and he loved his local community; shopping locally at Salford Market and in Swinton Town Centre. Everyone that encountered him would say ‘alright Tone’? He was well loved in the area.”
Tony’s next door neighbour and close friend, Debbie Dunn, 54, said: “He was the best neighbour you could hope for. We’d chat for hours on the doorstep.
“We’d help each other out with missing cooking ingredients and we’d compare notes on X Factor and I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here, of which he was a big fan.
“He loved his garden. I’d take him to the garden centre and we’d make matching hanging baskets. There were particular parts of the park that he would go and stand or sit to get some peace and quiet and he’d walk down Park Avenue past the church a lot, as he loved it there as well.
“He was a spiritual man. When he was writing his books, he’d often get writer’s block and a walk in Victoria Park would help clear his mind.”