Annie Walker set bar high at Rovers

These letters are in response to an editorial asking readers to name their favourite owners of the Rovers Return over the years. After a random draw, Gwyneth Jones, of Albany, wins the six-month subscription to TV Guide.

It has to be the elegant Annie Walker and her poor hen-pecked husband Jack. No following landlady could ever have put the punters firmly in their place with just one look of derision accompanied with her neatly pursed lips. Poor browbeaten Jack was so obedient and loyal. Coming a close second would be Vera and Jack Duckworth. The programme had real characters acting in it back then. Gwyneth Jones (Albany)

For me, Bet Lynch (later to be Gilroy) stands out at the Rovers. She had a big personality and a big heart but so often seemed to get the rough end of the deal in life. She treated the Rovers like her stage, just as Annie Walker had done before her, and always put on a brave face for the punters no matter what life had thrown at her. She always came up smiling for her public even if she was shedding tears on the inside. She was the standout Rovers owner for me. Ron (Christchurch)

Jack and Annie Walker were the best owners of the Rovers Return. I have been watching Coronation Street since it first appeared on our screens way back in the 1960s. Dot and Gary Dean (Rotorua)

I always loved watching Jack and Vera Duckworth on Coronation Street. They used to have some outrageous fights but underneath it all they really did love each other and that always shone through. Owning the Rovers was one of the high points of their lives as it showed others on the Street that the Duckworths really could make something of themselves. Helen (Tauranga)

I always liked Liz McDonald behind the bar of the Rovers and I enjoyed it when Steve was with her too. It’s not been quite the same since Liz left but Steve is still around and he often makes me laugh. Elizabeth B. (Hamilton)