Confessions of a Coronation Street Tour Guide (5 of 5)

(This post was originally posted by Flaming Nora on the Coronation Street Blog July 2017, reposted to this blog with permission.)


Here we go with the continuation of Aussie Pete's Confessions of a Coronation Street Tour Guide.

Missed Day 1 and Day 2 of our Confessions of a Coronation Street Tour Guide?
Check them out here - Day 1, Day 2, Day 3 and Day 4

Any scary moments working on what has been called a haunted set?
In the ‘Corridor of Stars’ just before arriving at Wardrobe, there is a lift to get to the next floor. When I first started, I was told a story about even though it was off and not in-use, it would sometimes open on its own.

One evening I walked past it and it opened right in front of me! I jumped and screamed! I think it scared about 5 years off my life! There were rumours of spirits in the place, the area did have a burial ground there about 100 years ago along with a church at the St John’s Park. There have also been rumours that the late Pat Phoenix’s spirit is there looking after the place as she cared for it so much.

What were you feelings when you saw the pics of it all demolished and the cobbles ripped up?
Honest truth? It brought tears to my eyes. To know that where I worked and had some of my happiest memories now stands in ruins, really hurts. I really thought that they would somehow preserve it. It’s an icon, I feel it should’ve been treated better.

And did you have a party at the end of the tour when it closed down, any tales you can tell us from that?
We actually had 2! The first one was an all-expenses paid party at the Bijou nightclub. That was a really fun evening. Drinks, dancing and great food.

The second one was held on the very last day of the Tour. We all gathered as the final tour group came out and celebrated that was the end. We followed this by watching a video montage in the black box of all our photos and happy memories of our time together. The was not a dry-eye in the studio. It took me a good 5 minutes to calm down and be able to even talk. We partied until midnight then sadly, left for the very last time, knowing that was it, and we’d never be back again.

It was an amazing 14 months that I was there, and I will cherish the incredible memories and friendships until the day I die. If they ever reopened tours on the new set, would I go back? Well in my case, living in Australia, I’d have to work out Visa issues, however I would do it again without a doubt.

Our thanks go to Aussie Pete for sharing his memories with Corrie fans here on the Coronation Street Blog.

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Tvor @tvordlj on Twitter

Confessions of a Coronation Street Tour Guide (4 of 5)

(This post was originally posted by Flaming Nora on the Coronation Street Blog July 2017, reposted to this blog with permission.)


Here we go with the continuation of Aussie Pete's Confessions of a Coronation Street Tour Guide.

Missed earlier parts of our Confessions of a Coronation Street Tour Guide?
Check them out here - Day 1 and Day 2 and Day 3

What kind of questions did the guests ask you?
At the end of most tours when we arrived on the street, it gave the guests an opportunity to ask us questions we couldn’t answer whilst on the tour itself, due to it being a set time limit with the amount of tours we would have run in a day.

Here is a list of the most common questions we were asked:

• Are the pigeons’ real? Are they electronic?
• Do the people get angry with us knocking on their doors?
• Can we have a photo with (character)?
• Did Tina really die on this spot?
• Where is (character) today?
• Have you met all the cast?
• Can you drink at the pub?
• Is the alcohol real?
• Are the Kabin sweets real and can I have some?

Any tricky moments working as a tour guide?
It was hard sometimes when you had guests who thought they were above other guests and expected to be at the front of every set every stop and would actually push their way through others. Young children could be nightmarish too when they would kick off and start screaming the place down. If it got too much, we would radio for assistance so a parent could take the child away to calm down. One time two friends came, had a argument and nearly had a punch-up at The Platts!!

One of the other difficult moments was when there was a backlog in the studio. The usual tour path was as follows:

• Introduction which took place at the door to the cast Green Room which also doubled as the entrance to Draper’s Mill Apartments.
• The Green Room
• Corridor of Stars/Cast dressing rooms
• Wardrobe and Makeup Department
• 5 minute video montage
• Carla Connor’s Apartment
• The Platt House
• The Rovers Return
• Underworld
• Props and Artefacts and Martha’s Barge
• The Duckworths/Dobbs House
• The Kabin
• The Production Suite
• Interior of Nick’s Bistro
• The Grand Reveal
• The Street

Tune in tomorrow for the final part of Aussie Pete's Confessions of a Coronation Street Tour Guide.

Missed earlier parts of our Confessions of a Coronation Street Tour Guide?
Check them out here - Day 1 and Day 2 and Day 3

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Tvor @tvordlj on Twitter

Confessions of a Coronation Street Tour Guide (3 of 5)

(This post was originally posted by Flaming Nora on the Coronation Street Blog July 2017, reposted to this blog with permission.)


Here we go with the continuation of Aussie Pete's Confessions of a Coronation Street Tour Guide.

Missed Day 1 and Day 2 of our Confessions of a Coronation Street Tour Guide?
Check them out here - Day 1 and Day 2

Can you tell us any funny stories from behind the scenes as a tour guide?

The early tours were filled with nerves, hoping I didn’t make a mistake and be corrected by a fan of the show. Many fans know the most minute of details and were quick to correct if the wrong thing was said, however being the Corrie Fan I am, I didn’t have this problem… though a few did try to correct me with their incorrect facts! Being the only Aussie there (we did briefly have another Aussie in the shop, however she didn’t stay long), I couldn’t help but playing up the Aussie language. That’s where my nickname came from, ‘Aussie Pete.’ I used it a few times as a laugh and it stuck! Many a time I had guests asking me what an Aussie was doing in the cobbles and shouldn’t I be doing tours of the ‘Neighbours’ and ‘Home and Away’ sets. The amount of times I was asked to ‘throw another shrimp on the barbie’ was madness! Besides, we call the prawns!

On another tour, there was a woman who looked strikingly familiar. She was with a group of people and in the end, I asked if she realised how much she looked like …Sally Dynevor aka Sally Metcalfe! Her family burst out laughing and told me that they say it to her all the time! We even had a photo together!

One other hilarious moment came not on the tour, but at another well-known Corrie-related place, sadly now closed too. That’s The Old Grapes pub, formerly owned by Our Vera, Liz Dawn. We’d had a staff meeting earlier in the day and headed there afterwards for a few drinks. Little did we know that Bruno Langley and a guy from that other southern show were at the venue too! Heading off to go home after a nice evening, my housemate and I (she was also a Tour Guide) began walking to the corner when we heard a woman start screaming!

We looked at each other and laughed, she’d just seen Bruno, and kept walking. The woman screamed again, so we stopped, turned around to see the commotion and we were greeted with the woman running… at us! She was screaming “Aussie Pete! Aussie Pete!” I was floored! The woman and her husband came up to us and said ‘You were my tour guide a few weeks ago! Oh my God my Mum would be so jealous!” The husband hid his face, he was really embarrassed. She then asked could I have a photo with her and a hug? How could I say no?!? The only time I’ve ever felt like a celebrity! I certainly went home with a big grin on my face that couldn’t be removed for days!

Tune in tomorrow for Day 4 with more memories from Aussie Pete.

Missed Day 1 and Day 2 of our Confessions of a Coronation Street Tour Guide?
Check them out here - Day 1 and Day 2

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Tvor @tvordlj on Twitter

Confessions of a Coronation Street Tour Guide (2 of 5)

(This post was originally posted by Flaming Nora on the Coronation Street Blog July 2017, reposted to this blog with permission.)


It's day 2 of Aussie Pete's Confessions of a Coronation Street Tour Guide.

Missed Day 1? It's here! Day 1  

What were the best things about the job?

The great moments at the tour include watching someone get down on bended knee and propose, usually on the street in front of The Rovers or sometimes in the Rovers mid-tour. Somewhat morbid, but the amount of people who lay down at the bottom of the Builder’s Yard pretending to be Tina going splat was hilarious! I took literally hundreds of photos of people laying there, even in the rain! The irony is that Tina fell on the set at Salford Quays, not our set!

It was always a wonderful sight for us guides actually watching the guests’ reactions when they saw various points, things like how small the dressing rooms were, some cast had to share! The video montage had iconic moments, sad moments and comedic moments. The sad moments quite often would bring some fans to tears, sometimes even the guides!

Seeing the first set always got them excited. It gave them perspective on how small they really were and how some things weren’t as real as you’d think! e.g. no floorboards, they’re just painted onto the floor!

Cracking cheesy jokes at the top of the Platt’s staircase always got a laugh. The moment you walk into The Rovers really shocked many. In real life, it’s very small and cramped and is made much bigger with filming techniques. Guests would look so proud holding onto the pumps when posing for their picture behind the bar.

Personally, I always got a kick out of the Underworld set. I found a hidden door where as I led the guests in, I would disappear and then reappear from between a few knickers rails scaring the guests as if I just walked through a wall! I would encourage the guests to stand closer to the office door so when the ‘Ghost of Mike Baldwin’ made an appearance, they would feel the full-force of his booming voice. I actually had a guest jump 2 feet in the air and grab onto another guest in fear!
Many would ask us what the barge was about next to the props. For those who do not remember, Ken Barlow had an affair with actress Martha Fraser in 2009 and she lived on a canal boat. One of our guides always grabbed an onion from off the barge, pointed at it and said ‘Onion Bargey?’

The Duckworths/Dobbs household was another time on the tour that garnered a big emotional response from the guests. Anger at the way copper Kirsty treated Tyrone and the moment when Jack died in his armchair and ‘Our Vera’ briefly returned in spirit form.

The Kabin always gave us guests asking for freebies from the sweets. They are real, sadly I never got to try any, though a few guests did sneak onto the set and steal some on more than one occasion.
We did have golden rule about no photos on the tour, not for legal reason, though we did say this repeatedly and told people off. The reason was if we let everyone take photos, the tour times would triple and we’d never get finished!

The final part of the core section of the tour was always an experience. Watching their faces as they walked through the doors onto ‘The Street’ was breathtaking. I can remember vividly and woman with special needs who walked out with her hands over her mouth and tears started pouring from her eyes. “I can’t believe this. I’ve watched the show for 40 years and it’s like I’m walking through my dreams! I can’t believe I’m really here!” This brought tears to my eyes!

And what were the worst things?
Although the tours were fun, there were sometimes some sadder moments. People getting ill on tour, especially during Summer, more than one heart attack, thankfully no deaths or waters breaking!

The more horrible moment I had was someone who yelled at me that as an Australian, I had no right doing the tours and it should only be UK people doing them, even going as far as to say only Northerners should be doing the tours. It really hurt. I had trouble doing tours for the next few days it was that upsetting.

Did being a tour guide change the way you viewed Corrie as a fan?
I thought it might have, but in all honesty, it didn’t. In fact, I think it gave me a better perspective of the show. Knowing how they filmed in certain ways, and looking for differences between our set and the newer set they film on now. I looked for things that looked larger, the extra window above The Rovers sign, the extension under the viaduct in Rosamund St that leads to Mawdsley St. On out set that’s just a matte backdrop.

Did you meet anyone famous on the tour, any cast members for instance?
My favourite cast member I met was Charlie Lawson, aka Jim ‘so it is’ McDonald. You honestly could not meet a nicer guy. He was warm and friendly and we had a great chat at one point about fine wines!

Many of the cast visited the tours. One of the Green Room walls had all of their signatures on it when they visited. There were three guests however, who didn’t sign the wall… and that’s because they didn’t have hands to sign with! Eccles and the late Schmeichel and Ozzy visited us. They are beautiful dogs and their handlers really look after them well. I even went in on my day off to meet them and for a cuddle with Eccles!

We did have Loose Women film an episode at the tour, they took off the front of The Rover’s set and filmed inside. A handful of the staff were able to be in the audience. In between filming they had a warmup guy interact with the audience, which included getting some of us up off of our chairs and dancing with each other. They dragged me to the front and had me dance in front of the panel. They couldn’t believe I was wearing shorts on the day, as it was sunny but cold! I don’t really feel the cold! Jamelia commented I was a great dancer.

Tune in tomorrow for Day 3 when Aussie Pete reveals some favourite moments behind the scenes.

Missed Day 1? It's here! Day 1  

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Tvor @tvordlj on Twitter

Confessions of a Coronation Street Tour Guide (1 of 5)

(This post was originally posted by Flaming Nora on the Coronation Street Blog July 2017, reposted to this blog with permission.)


The old Coronation Street set and the tour for fans have now been demolished and are no more. But we can relive some of the glory moments of the Coronation Street tour with an ex-tour guide, Aussie Pete.

Peter has been kind enough to write down all of his best, favourite memories from his time spent working as a tour guide on the Coronation Street set.  And over the next few days we'll be bringing you his funny and touching memories.

Part 1 is today and I hope you really enjoy reading this.  It's over to Aussie Pete!

How did you get to become a Corrie tour guide?

I must start by saying that if it was not for this Blog, I would not have become a tour guide. I saw the post on Coronation Street Blog advertising the tour was looking for new tour guides for the closing months of the tour.

At this point I’d been in England for a single week and as an Aussie on a working holiday, expecting to do the usual bar work (and that would actually come much later…). Seeing the post, I thought ‘What’s the worst they could do? Say No?’ I hadn’t even looked for a job yet, just planning to have a holiday then get down to it. Just a few short days later I received an email asking me to come down to Manchester to apply! After a group interview, I went back to Edinburgh where I was staying with a friend, two days later the call came in for the phone interview which lasted about 3 minutes before telling me I had the job!

How long were you there and how often did you work - every day?

Most weeks I would work 5 days, though by the end of the tours it was much more than that. The longest stretch I did was 21 days in a row, and I worked 29 out of the last 31 days! The shortest shift was about 3 hours and the longest was 8.30am until 1am!

A day usually included a few different duties for the guides. There were the tours themselves. Which could be upto 6 a day, however it was usually no more than 4 or 5. We had dispatch duty, which was checking people’s tickets and getting the groups ready for their tour and giving them their backstage passes. The last job was street duty, which most of the time was taking photos for the guests, answering question, doing street tours and monitoring everyone was having fun and being safe.

Were you a Corrie fan before you took the job? 
I had been a fan of the show for about 10 years before joining the tour. When I like a show, sometimes I like to find out all I can about it. In Corrie’s case, that was about 40 years’ worth of history, so I jumped onto Corriepedia and read all I could. I knew so much by the time I arrived, I even got nicknamed the ‘Aussie Corricle’ or ‘Aussie Geek!’ There’s one guy we had at the tour, an Uber-fan who knows more about the show than anyone I know, we called him ‘The Corricle,’ though a few times I knew stuff he didn’t know!

What kind of training did you have to do before you got the job?
The main training I needed to do was learn the script. It was about 13 pages long. I did get the script memorised quite quickly. Once we had gotten into a comfortable routine with it, we could deviate from it a little here and there.  You could go a dozen times with a different guide each time and have a completely different experience. Sometimes it was necessary to make changes. An good example is a scripted joke in Wardrobe about getting Roy Cropper’s cardigan from the Northerners version of eBay, e-by-gum! Now if I had said that, I would’ve sounded a fool as I feel you need the accent for it and clearly, I didn’t have that!

Tune in tomorrow for Pete's blog post about some of the funniest things that happened while working as a Corrie tour guide!

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Tvor @tvordlj on Twitter

Canadian Corrie fans annual pilgrimage to Coronation Street

(This post was originally posted by Flaming Nora on the Coronation Street Blog December 2016, reposted to this blog with permission.)



Lucky Coronation Street fans in Canada are able to visit the Coronation Street set once again in 2017.  Yes, The World of Coronation Street Tour is now open for bookings.

The tour takes place in June 2017 with Kemptville Travel.  It's definitely worth having a look at the website, even if you're not Canadian or able to go on the tour. 

There are some great photos from previous years visits on the site, showing lucky Corrie fans from Canada meeting and greeting members of the Corrie cast.




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Charlene's visit to Corrie on Tour

(This post was originally posted by Flaming Nora on the Coronation Street Blog September 2016, reposted to this blog with permission.)

Coronation Street fan Charlene McElhinney visited the Corrie on Tour event at the Glasgow SECC this week.  She's given us permission to post her blog here on the Coronation Street Blog to share with fans.

You can also read our own review of the event here.

And for now, it's over to Charlene...

"For those of you who know me: You will know how much of a Coronation Street fan I am. I've loved Corrie ever since I can remember. So I was absolutely thrilled when I received a present for my birthday from my lovely friend, Megan, telling me that we were going to be attending the Coronation Street Set Tour in the SECC in Glasgow.

We made our way to the SECC (following a 'few' cocktails that we had beforehand) and we were both extremely excited. There were arrows pointing us in the right direction to #corrieontour - which was propitiously ideal for me as I would have gotten lost otherwise. The SECC is huuuuuuuge.

We were introduced to our Tour Guide and to another bunch of people who would be doing the tour with us; they were so lovely. The majority of them were elderly (crazily enough, I was answering questions and getting more answers right than these elderly ladies that had been around since the beginning of Corrie). We were given a lanyard to wear around our necks and I wore mine with pure pride! (Sad, I know...)

I was like a child in a sweetie shop: I was eagerly making my way around all of the different sets from Coronation Street, making little excited noises (as you do), whilst taking an abundance of pictures to parade when I got home. We started off at Jack and Vera's home (now known as Tyrone and Fiz's); we moved swiftly along to the Platt's - passing street cars on our way; next stopping off at the notorious Roy's Rolls (which was an incredible experience - one of the 'breakfasts' cost a total of £40 to make! And it looks so legitimate - you would swear it was real); then we stopped by the Kabin (I was hoping the wonderful Norris Cole would make an appearance but to no avail); next up was the moment that we were all waiting for: THE ROVERS RETURN.

The Rovers Return was the absolute pinnacle of everyone's tour - the zenith of all zeniths - it is the absolute climax of a Coronation Street experience. I can now boastfully say that I have been inside the Rovers, sat on the seats, been behind the bar AND rang the well-known bell. Time to tick that off the bucket list.

There was so much to see: memorabilia, costumes, props, clips from Coronation Street from all different eras, images of how the make up is done, a 'hall of fame' type thing with photographs hanging in golden frames of all our beloved Coronation Street characters - some of which who are no longer with us.

It was such a memorable and fantastic experience. I am so grateful that I was able to walk down the cobbles and create these memories that I will treasure for a life time. Thank you so much Megan for such an incredible present (I don't know how I am going to top this when it comes to your birthday)!

Find Charlene on:

FACEBOOK

TWITTER

INSTAGRAM

YOUTUBE

SNAPCHAT: TheMcElhiester

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Exclusive! Iconic cobbles dug up from old Coronation Street set

(This post was originally posted by Flaming Nora on the Coronation Street Blog August 2016, reposted to this blog with permission.)

Here's another exclusive, you read it here first! When the journos and the telly mags nick it, copy and paste it (as they've been doing with our stuff since we started in 2007) you know where you saw it first, as always.

Yesterday, Sunny Jim and I visited the Corrie on Tour visit to Glasgow - you can read all about here and see some great pics.

There's a section of the original Quay Street cobbles as part of the exhibition, shown in the picture above.  Speaking to Juliana Delaney, CEO of Continuum Attractions, she told us exclusively that all of the cobbles at the old Manchester set on Quay Street had now been dug up. 

And where have they gone?

ITV have taken them all, ready to build and extend the Coronation Street set at Trafford.  The set extension is planned for when Corrie goes to six episodes a week next year.  Producer Kate Oates told us earlier this month that the set was being extended and it's great to know that the cobbles from Quay Street will be put to good use.



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Fan review: Corrie on Tour exhibition at Glasgow SECC

(This post was originally posted by Flaming Nora on the Coronation Street Blog August 2016, reposted to this blog with permission.)

Yesterday, blogger Sunny Jim and I set off at the crack of half-past daft in the morning (it was 4.15am when the alarm went off) to set off on three train rides to Glasgow.  We were heading there for the press day of the Corrie on Tour exhibition at Glasgow SECC.  Kept awake with coffee, three trains and some hours later, we arrived at our destination. Were we excited? Oh yes, just a bit!

Corrie on Tour is the first time, ever in its history, that Coronation Street sets have left Manchester. Glasgow is the first stop for fans to see some of the sets, props and costumes used on the show and hopefully Belfast will be next.  In excess of 20 articulated lorries transported the sets, props and memorabilia around the country.  So, what did we think of it all?

Well, I don't want to reveal too much and give away too many surprises from the event but I hope to give a flavour of what you can expect. 

First off, when you go in there's a welcome film showcased by your virtual tour guide Alison King, who played Carla Connor in Corrie.  At first, I thought it was going to be the same film that had been shown at the Manchester Corrie tour but it's not, it's brand new. And immediately, you know that you're somewhere different to Manchester, that this is going to be a totally different experience to anything else you've ever seen before.  You're in Glasgow. You're in a big white dome. You've got Alison King as your tour guide. Toto, we're not in Weatherfield any more.

The film is great and really positions you within the heart of Coronation Street's history.  It is a wrap-around experience, shown on three walls and I wasn't sure where to look first as there's so much to see. Sunny Jim was pointing out characters to me while I was looking at a different wall and so I missed a few things, as did he. It's a film I'd love to have been able to watch a second time, and a third, to see it all. Hopefully on the guided tours, this will be possible for fans as there's such a lot in the film to see.

With Alison King as your guide, she beams out from every set inside the big dome, telling you about each set that they have. As the tour guide, Alison is assisted by the non-virtual and very real tour hosts, a group of team members at the Corrie on Tour set. At each set there are also short clips from the history of the show telling you about the inhabitants of each property.  There are exhibitions of some props - and many are new to those that were on show in Manchester.  There's a few costumes on display too.

 

Walking around inside the big white dome looking at the Corrie sets and props, watching the films and clips, taking photos outside the replica Rovers Return, is all a bit surreal.  You have to keep reminding yourself you're in Glasgow, in a dome, in a car park at the SECC. It all seems so familiar, as if Hilda Ogden herself could pop out of the Rovers at any moment, and yet... if she did, you know she'd have a Scottish accent.

There's even a section of the cobbles from Quay Street, which are locked away in a box.  Outside of the replica Rovers Return is a strip of cobbles which has been made from a cast of the original Quay Street cobbles too.  We also found out, exclusively from ITV, that the cobbles at Quay Street have all been dug up now. Where have they gone? Ah, that's another blog post! 

Mr Coronation Street - Craig Laurenson, Duty Manager at Corrie on Tour
He's on twitter @craig247

One of the absolute joys of yesterday was unexpectedly meeting up with our old blogger Craig Laurenson.  Craig used to blog for us while he was a student at Uni and he is a huge Corrie fan. Guess what he's doing now? He's the Duty Manager for Corrie on Tour!  Craig is working in his ideal job as he is so knowledgeable about Corrie, professional and friendly too. Corrie on Tour is very lucky to have him heading up operations there in Glasgow.  

All in all, it was a grand day out for Corrie fans. If you're a Coronation Street fan, I know that you'll go and I hope that you'll enjoy it as much as we did.

I've created a flickr album of all of our photos from yesterday's visit and if you'd like to see them, they're here.  There are also pictures on our twitter feed here.



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Coronation Street tour wins Tourism Award

(This post was originally posted by Flaming Nora on the Coronation Street Blog November 2015, reposted to this blog with permission.)

The Coronation Street tour of the old set has won an award.  In the Greater Manchester Tourism Awards this week, the Corrie tour won the award for Exceptional Contribution to Tourism.

Yes, this is the same Corrie tour that is closing down at the end of this year. If you haven't got your tickets yet to visit the Street set for the first - or the final - time, buy your tickets now.

The tour is run by Continuum Attractions who tweeted this picture of their award.

All of the winners can be viewed here.





Deirdre: A Life on Coronation Street - official ITV tribute to a soap icon. Available here.


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Join Corrie anniversary walk on soap's 55th birthday

(This post was originally posted by Flaming Nora on the Coronation Street Blog September 2015, reposted to this blog with permission.)


In case any of you are in Manchester in December...

New Manchester Walks are offering a guided walk on December 9th, which is the date of the 55th birthday of Coronation Street.

It's the last chance to walk with New Manchester Walks around Central Manchester to hear the history of the programme and how it connected with the city - before the set gets demolished!

The tour is hosted by Ed Glinert who led the campaign to get the old Granada set re-opened and who is the only official Manchester guide with access to the new live set in Trafford Park (but not on this occasion) and who hosts events with the stars (with Kemptville Travel).

This tour ends at the re-opened set, but does not include entrance. 

Find out more here and book your place on this walk. 



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One last toddle on the cobbles

I'm visiting the UK at present and since the Coronation Street tour at the old Granada Studios is ending at the finish of 2015, I wanted to have one more chance to walk the cobbles. I've been very lucky over the years to have had several visits to the studios when it was a working concern, private tours through several means and lovely, generous people. I also went on the tour just after it opened last year in April. It might seem a bit redundant to go on it again, but when you love the show, the magic of walking down that street is still there.

I knew that a friend was taking part in a two week bus tour via Kemptville Travel out of Ontario and their group would be at the tour on Wednesday this week. I decided to time our tickets so that we might cross paths after our tours finished. I was lucky, her group reached the studio and were assigned the same tour time we had booked. Several of her group had been pleased to meet her because she's the chair of the Downeast Streeters Non Profit Society out of Halifax. The DES group (On Facebook, here) has brought Corrie stars to Halifax and organizes the quarterly "pings" (Corrie fan club get togethers at a local pub). What was even more ace is that a man asked me if I was the same person that blogged here. This fan, I believe his name was Wayne, enjoys the blog! Great to meet him!

The tour itself hasn't really changed. The inside part went from the green room, past the dressing rooms and into the studio proper where there was a five minute film filled with funny, and emotional moments. I did notice that it's been updated with some more recent scenes that aired since the last time I saw it. The costume and makeup area had some newer items as well including Beth, Kirk and Sinead's 80s theme wedding gear and Tracy Barlow's wedding dress from the ill-fated Rob Donovan wedding, complete with ripped shoulder (after the fight with Carla). There were two other identical dresses as well.

We saw Underworld with some rather cheesy voiceovers courtesy of Mike Baldwin, the Platt, Dobbs, and Carla's first flat. The barge was there and of course the Rovers and we got a few more minutes to look at the exhibit cases which we didn't have last time. They only walked us through the production section rather than stop and discuss it. I think on the whole, that's a better balance. The artifacts and props are more interesting for most fans.

The outside set of course, is the main attraction because you can take photos to your heart's content. There's a little cafe truck to the side of the Bistro which was not there last year but which is well appreciated when you are footsore and want a place to sit with a drink and write your postcards. Oh yes, I did buy some postcards at the shop and got them stamped with the Weatherfield postmark.

As I have a lot of photos from the set over the years, I concentrated my photo efforts in places I hadn't had a good look at before, like the back gardens of the new side and of some details like the windows or carvings on the tree outside the salon. Maxine's bench is looking a bit worn, I must say. You can see into the Garage now and go inside the kebab shop for photos which I did. The spot where the gym is now is still a Victoria Court signed door though it's not the main building of flats.

Just as we were getting ready to leave, I saw a group of women in the middle of the street and they all had Corrie character masks. Some of them had them on and a couple were trying to arrange them. I called over and told them they looked awesome and asked if I could take their picture. They agreed (see below! What good sports!) and posed for me. One of the ladies was American she said, but I don't think they all were. As I turned to leave I heard one say "Now just let me put Fred in me 'andbag". I walked away, smiling.

For a Corrie fan, it's worth paying the ticket money. The guides are all very well informed and entertaining. You spent an hour inside and in our case, the guide also spent another 10 minutes with the group outside by the houses. I'm not sure if they all do that. You can spend as much time as you like outside, looking around.

The tour is only open until the end of December. If you can get there, I'd highly recommended. I even enjoyed it the second time around!

By: Tvor. Follow me on Twitter @tvordlj



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Coronation Street tour to end December 31st 2015

(This post was originally posted by Flaming Nora on the Coronation Street Blog June 2015, reposted to this blog with permission.)

Today, we have received confirmation that the Coronation Street tour at Quay Street, Manchester will come to an end on 31st December 2015.

The Tour, operated by Continuum Attractions, opened initially on 5th April 2014 for a six month period but due to public demand, extended planning was granted by Manchester City Council, allowing visitors to continue enjoying the unique experience over Christmas and throughout 2015.

Since opening, the attraction has welcomed over half a million visitors to the former site where Coronation Street was filmed before its move to MediaCityUK. Visitors can explore behind the scenes of the soundstage studio featuring the green room, dressing rooms, interior sets such as The Rovers Return, The Kabin and The Duckworth’s and the backlot set of Coronation Street’s famous cobbles.

Juliana Delaney, CEO of Continuum Attractions said: “We are incredibly proud of the unique experience we have been able to deliver for hundreds of thousands of visitors from across the world. This December we’ll be saying farewell to something extraordinarily special and are truly privileged in operating the attraction to have played a part in making this unique opportunity available for the public to enjoy.”

James Penfold, ITV Controller of Partnerships (Commerce & Ventures) added: “The tour at Quay Street was always for a limited time and the demand has exceeded all our expectations. However, all good things have to come to an end and the Coronation Street lot will be removed in early 2016 for the site to be returned to Allied London for future development.”

Coronation Street’s new home is at MediaCityUK and the Tour at Quay Street was always for a limited time. Consequently, Decemberwill now see in the final visitors tothe attraction,after which, the site will be handed back to its new owners, Allied London making way for the redevelopment of the site.

All remaining tickets have now been released and are available from www.ticketmaster.co.uk/coronationstreet.

More information can be found at www.coronationstreettour.co.uk.

Our Coronation Street Blog team has already made plans to make a final pilgrimage to the old Coronation Street set before it ends this year.  Will you be going again?



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Corrie fans, tour Ireland, Scotland and visit the Corrie set

Attention, Coronation Street fans in Canada, this blog post is for you.

Coronation Travel is offering fans in Canada the chance to join them on their 10th anniversary trip to the UK this autumn. 

The trip runs from Sept 26th – October 7th 2015 and takes in Ireland, Scotland, Blackpool and the Coronation Street tour.

On the Coronation Street tour the hosts will be Neville MacKay from My Mother's Bloomers and Mark Llewellin from Daisynook Garden Centre in the Manchester area (which has a fabulous Corrie museum inside).

Space is limited so don’t miss out on this fantastic tour.  Download your full itinerary and brochure from Coronation Travel.

I know people that have taken this tour and it's very good. The host, Neville MacKay is very entertaining and a lot of fun, as well. See the website above for the tour details.


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Canadian Corrie fans - Coronation Street tour April 2015

Canadian travel company Coronation Travel are organising a trip for Canadian fans to visit the cobbles in April 2015. And for Corrie fans who are also Downton Abbey fans, they have managed to snag a group visit time inside Highclere Castle.

Their tour in September this year was a huge success. A real highlight during the visit was that the group were included in the filming of the "Rita and Me" documentary and the lovely Barbara Knox spent quite a bit of time that day chatting with group members. One of the gang was so touched that she finally got to meet Barbara Knox, she broke down in tears....Barbara was very touched, and very kind. 

Coronation Travel has been operating for 27 years and run by Kim Monteith who has been a Coronation Street fan since she was 10 years old   

  

Please contact Kim directly at info@coronationtravel.com  and visit www.coronationtravel.com  for full details for the April 2015 tour. I know several people that have been on this tour over the past few years and they all really enjoyed it!

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Review of Christmas on the Cobbles

(This post was originally posted by Emma Hynes on the Coronation Street Blog in November 2014, reposted with permission.)

It was a fittingly chilly morning as I disembarked in Manchester Airport for my first festive encounter of the year; a preview of Coronation Street The Tour’s Christmas on the Cobbles. Christmas isn't just another time of year for me, I love absolutely everything about it. I’m a mulled wine making, carol singing, mince pie munching, decoration amassing snow globe of festive cheer, and so you can imagine how combining that with a trip to the cobbles would have me and my Christmas jumper more than sufficiently excited.

When I arrived, I was whisked into the Green Room from which tour guide Dom brought me on a whistle stop tour of the internal sets. As I had visited in April, there was no need for me to experience the full tour again, so Dom pointed out the things that had changed for Christmas. In the costume department were Gary and Chesney's festive tree-selling outfits and a number of wedding dresses, Tracy's being the most recent. We then watched a video montage which has also been given a festive makeover, showing a number of scenes of Christmasses past. The sight of Roy and Hayley gave me an instant lump in my throat at the memory of what was unfolding this time last year. 

Each of the sets have also been decorated so we can encounter the Platt’s the Dobbs-Browne’s, the Rovers Return, Underworld, and even Martha’s Barge as they would look at Christmas. Already appearing smaller than you might expect on first encounter, they looked extra cosy decked with tinsel, trees and baubles. With preparations underway for its unveiling to the public the next day, set designers busied themselves by making lists and checking them twice, while others chatted about plans and preparations. While it doesn't form part of the tour, I was lucky enough to be allowed to take five in the place of many's a dramatic Christmas, the Platts.

Once through the internal part, I was brought behind the doors of the bistro which opened out on to the Street, and what a sight awaited me. Snowy rooftops, Christmas lights and decorations, and a choir of children singing carols filled the senses, as well as a lovely surprise which I’d rather not spoil for those planning to attend, but which made it all the more magical. Everybody remarked that it felt a little colder, probably than it really was, and we all pulled our coats a little tighter.

Tour guide Matt took over at this point, and explained that in addition to the indoor tour being tailored with Christmas stories, there will be a seasonal tour of the outdoor set at no additional cost which starts at Roy’s Rolls and makes its way around the Street. As we received a taster of this tour, Matt revealed that the decorations have been taken straight from the new set at Media City UK where filming of this year’s Christmas episodes has now finished. This means that while visiting the old set, visitors will be seeing the authentic decorations used in the show just this year.

As for the snow, which I'm told withstands rain, it's remarkably realistic, both in the way it looks and compacts underfoot, and it can even be made into snowballs which I couldn't resist successfully putting to the test. It was still being applied to Victoria Court as we wandered about, so we got to see the work in action. I urged readers back in April not to forget the ginnel, and the same applies this time round.

While it unfortunately wasn’t up and running in time for my visit, I’m assured the scent of Christmas will be in the air for arriving visitors with Christmas berries, cinnamon, chocolate orange and Christmas trees giving a “multi-sensory experience” at various points along the tour.

In addition to 977 glittering baubles, 800 tonnes of snow, over 10,000 fairy lights and 385 hours of Christmas music, I’m told that over 50,000 mince pies will be served to visitors, and the post box will be open for the first time to send your letter to Santa.

Aside from the many festive trimmings, I noticed one great addition to the tour since April, and that is a list of names of former occupants and their years of residence in the windows of each of the houses on the Street. The shop contained within the Medical Centre has also been expanded with a wider range of products on sale, including our own Glenda’s book A Perfect Duet. This is also where you can purchase the picture taken of you in the Rovers Return, and the festive cardboard holder is a beautiful detail.

Christmas on the Cobbles runs from 22 November to 11 January with twilight tours on Fridays and Saturdays until 7pm, and tickets are available here. If you visit between 13 and 24 December, the twelve days of Christmas, your trip will be made even more atmospheric as you will be serenaded by choirs, brass bands and singing groups. A trip to Coronation Street The Tour is a magical experience in itself, and the Christmas theme makes it even more so. Even if you've been before, it is tailored to the extent that you are assured a different experience throughout. I topped off my day with a trip to Manchester Christmas Markets, and I'm now fizzing with festive cheer. Whilst it's still only November, Merry Christmas to you all!

By Emma Hynes

www.emmahynes.wordpress.com

Twitter: @ELHynes

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