The inspiration In late
summer 1960 Granada gave the go-ahead to film 16 episodes of
Florizel Street. Writer Tony Warren took set designer
Denis Parkin on a tour of some of the back streets of Salford.
In the end Archie Street became the inspiration for the Coronation
Street set, and it was Archie Street, complete with its'
corner shop, that appeared in the closing credits of the first
episode.
The first (indoor) set This was in Studio 1 at Granada.
The set was so cramped that it had to be constructed in
two halves - so shots of the whole street were impossible. The
cobbles and pavements were painted onto the studio floor 280K
240K
The first outdoor set In 1968 Granada decided that the indoor set was just
too limiting and unrealistic, and decide to build an outdoor
set. This was built on some old railway sidings near the Granada
Studios, and co-incided with a storyline of the demolishion of
Ellison's Raincoat Factory and the Mission Hall and the subsequent
building of maisonettes. The outdoor set was initially little
more than a facade, built using the materials from the indoor
set.
In this picture (around 1968) you can see the maisonettes on
the left, and the houses (with supporting scaffolding) on the
right, and note how the cobbles run across the street. It wasn't
until the early 1970's that roofs and back yards were added. 160K
The current set In 1981 it was decided to re-build
the outside set again. The existing set was never popular with
the cast - it was a cold and draughty place and there were maintenence
and security problems. It was decided to incorporate the new
set into Granada Studio Tours, and so the set was re-built a
couple of hundred yards away from the original outdoor set.
The new set was opened by The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh
on 5 May 1982. This time reclaimed Salford bricks were used,
and the houses properly constructed; the cobbles were laid in
the correct direction, a new No7 was built, and a ginnel added
between The Rovers and No1. A derelict building, later to become
the Graffitti Club marked a glimpse of Rosamund Street. Episode
2210, transmitted on 7 June 1982 was the first to use the new
set.
In 1989, the factory was demolished, and a new set of houses,
shops, flats, units and a garage built in its place. In 1999
the set was futher extended with a row of shops and flats being
added in Victoria Street, together with an entrance to Nuttall's
Brewery. 220K
45K
With the closure of Granada Studio Tours at the end of 1999,
Granada has started to undertake the biggest expansion of the
current set since it was built 18 years previously. Work isn't
complete yet, but the Set 2000 page gives you an idea of what is happening...