No15 - the Corner Shop No15 - the Corner ShopDecember 1960: Elsie Lappin retires to a bungalow at Knott End. Florrie Lindley takes over the shop and living accommodation, and the shop becomes 'Lindeys Provisions'.
April 1964: Irma Ogden starts as shop assistant
February 1965: Florrie Lindley's estranged husband Norman returns and has a brief affair with Elsie Tanner
May 1965: Florrie and Norman are reconciled and emigrate to a new life in Canada. The shop is sold to Welshman and ex-Sgt Major Lionel Petty and becomes "Petty's Post Office". The shop is fitted out as a sub-post office and the entrance is moved from the corner of Coronation Street and Viaduct Street to its' current position in Coronation Street.
July 1965: Dennis Tanner helps out in the shop for a couple of months
January 1966: The Pettys move out and sell the shop and flat to David and Irma Barlow for £1,750, plus £200 for the stock. David's first move is to close down the unprofitable sub-post office, and it reverts back to a traditional shop layout.
June 1966: Irma's mother Hilda Ogden helps out until August
December 1967: David and Irma foster a little girl, Jill Morris for Christmas and New Year, and lives with them in the shop accommodation
April 1968: David and Irma emigrate to Australia and sell the shop to Les and Maggie Clegg. The shop becomes "Clegg's Provisions"
June 1968: In an attempt to beat his alcoholism, Les Clegg leaves to live in a hospital and never returns. Ena Sharples becomes shop assistant
September 1968: Valerie Barlow becomes shop assistant
June 1969: Maggie's older sister Betty Turpin arrives to help her out, but Maggie soon encourages her to take a job at The Rovers
December 1969: Valerie Barlow stops being shop assistant
June 1970: Widowed Irma Barlow returns from Australia and goes into partnership with Maggie Clegg, using money her father Stan Ogden had borrowed from bookie Dave Smith. Consequently, Ena stops being shop assistant
October 1970: Hilda Ogden lends a hand again for a month
August 1971: Former town hall clerk Janet Reid, starts at the Corner Shop and moves into the flat. Her affair with Alan Howard fails and she leaves hurriedly the same month
December 1971: Irma Barlow leaves for Llandudno. Lucille Hewitt helps out until the following March
February 1972: Betty and Cyril Turpin offer to buy Irma's share in the Corner Shop. Maggie turns them down and borrows money from her son Gordon to buy it herself
May 1972: Norma Ford becomes shop assistant and moves into the flat
July 1972: Norma's father Jacko is released from jail and stays in the shop until November when he is remanded to Risley, but he is found innocent early in 1973
December 1973: Heartbroken Norma Ford moves out of the area as the man of her dreams, Ken Barlow has re-married
May 1974: Alf Roberts gives Maggie a hand for a couple of months
July 1974: Maggie Clegg finally marries Ron Cooke and they emigrate to Zaire. Gordon Clegg returns to run the shop - but soon gets on the wrong side of aunty Betty Turpin and returns to London. As the shop isn't doing that well, they decide to rent it out, firstly to an unsuccessful Mavis Riley, and then to Megan Hopkins and her son and daughter-in-law Idris and Vera Hopkins.
February 1975: After discovering Gordon's birth certificate in the flat, Megan Hopkins tries to blackmail Gordon and Betty into selling them the shop at a reduced price. They are summarily evicted, but Tricia Hopkins stays on in the flat. The shop accommodation remains empty.
April 1975: Blanche Hunt gives up her corsetry business and serves in the shop.
January 1976: Blanche leaves with Dave Smith for Warwickshire. Shop flatmates Tricia Hopkins and Gail Potter, unemployed since the warehouse fire, serve in the shop.
April 1976: Elsie Howard returns from Newcastle, separated from her husband Alan Howard. She lives in the shop accommodation for a month.
May 1976: Renee Bradshaw buys the corner shop - and soon gets her brother Terry to repaint the sign with her name. Tricia and Gail, who make terrible assistants, are evicted from the flat and left without jobs
October 1976: Renee applies for an off-licence, and despite Annie Walker's opposition, is granted one.
March 1977: Bet Lynch moves into the flat, and in an inauspicious start, manages to turn off Renee's new deep-freeze, ruining £120 worth of stock
July 1977: Bet and Renee are chatted up by two crooks who arrange to meet them at a non-existent house in Ashton. In their absence the pair steal £400 worth of stock from the shop
March 1978: Renee marries Alf Roberts. The next month they return from honeymoon and try, but fail to evict Bet from the flat. They take up residence in the shop accommodation.
March 1979: A lorry ploughs into the Rovers Return - Alf is unconscious for three weeks, and on his return is insulting to shop customers. By May, he is receiving psychiatric treatment. Later he gives up his GPO job to help out in the shop full-time.
July 1980: The Roberts decide to sell the shop and retire to Grange-Over-Sands - but Renee is killed in a car crash. Alf decides to stay and run the shop alone, and in September, Deirdre Langton joins him as shop assistant, moving into the vacant flat.
July 1981: Deirdre marries Ken Barlow, moves out of the shop flat and starts working part-time.
October 1981: Alf appears besotted with Audrey Potter who is staying temporarily at No11, and as Deirdre can't work full hours, sets her on to look after the shop whilst he is on holiday. Audrey sets up a hairdressers in the back of the shop - and Alf turns a blind eye when he returns. On his return, Alf also paints out the "Renee Bradshaw" shop sign which has been there since 1976.
November 1981: Alf allows Audrey to talk him into buying a black MG roadster. Fed up with continuously having to stand in when Audrey fails to turn up for work, Deirdre resigns. Later in the month Audrey quickly disappears when Alf proposes marriage. The following month Alf persuades Deirdre to return to the shop.
September 1985: Alf decides on wholesale changes to the corner shop. It is enlarged, taking in the living accommodation at the back, and becomes Alf's Mini-Market. Alf has to move into the flat upstairs. However, more changes are on the horizon for Alf as Audrey Potter re-appears
December 1985: Alf marries Audrey Potter
January 1987: The Mini-Market is broken into, and Terry Duckworth confesses. Terry's mother Vera gives Alf £100 to cover costs and ensure he doesn't prosecute
May 1987: Sally Webster is taken on as shop assistant, and stays until January 1992
May 1991: Ivy Tilsley helps out in the shop for a couple of months
December 1992: Alf's wife Audrey 'helps him' in the shop
June 1993: Alf decides enough is enough, and sells the shop to former Bettabuy Area Manager Brendan Scott. Brendan renames it Best Buys, refurbishes the shop in a historical theme and employs Deirdre - dressed in a mop cap
August 1993: Brendan also employs Emily Bishop and Nicky Platt as a delivery boy with bike. However, the strain gets to Brendan and he dies of a heart attack in the shop. Brendan's widow, Debi, auctions off the shop, despite Reg Holdsworth's offers. Alf Roberts buys the shop back at a discount price, and Deirdre re-joins him as his assistant
January 1994: Alf sells the shop to Reg Holdsworth, and makes a handsome profit. Reg aims to run it with wife Maureen and moher-in-law Maud Grimes
May 1994: Reg is offered a job at Firmins Freezers - which he takes, though he suspects Maureen will be incapable of running the shop.
December 1994: Sally Webster starts working evenings in the shop
May 1995: With Maureen and her mother ill, Reg takes on Tricia Armstrong to help out in the shop - only to find her son Jamie eating all the stock. She only lasts a couple of weeks
August 1995: Reg puts the corner shop up for sale - and the Duckworths are interested (!), but decide not to buy
November 1995: Reg is transfered to Firmans Freezers in Lowestoft. Maureen remains with her mother and runs the shop.
January 1996: The corner shop is ransacked - and no-one knew as Maud couldn't set the alarm. To make matter worse, a potential buyer comes round - but quickly leaves.
March 1996: Reg disappears and Maureen finds out he has disappeared with the chief wages clerk
May 1996: Reg's new girlfriend Yvonne turns up and asks for a divorce. Maureen agrees on condition she become full owner of the shop. Maureen takes over the corner shop and the 'For Sale' sign is taken down.
July 1996: Sally leaves the shop to work full-time for Mike Baldwin
December 1996: Claire Palmer starts work as a shop assistant - and stays until the following March, when she walks out on Des Barnes.
February 1999: Ravi Desai buys the Corner Shop and his daughter Nita takes over as manager. When Nita leaves to work at Freshco's, her brother Vikram takes over.
December 1999: Ravi travels back to India to sort out his brother Raj's affairs after he dies. Temporarily short of cash, Ravi sells the Corner Shop and six others to his nephew Dev Alahan.
March 2000: Gwen Loveday starts work as a shop assistant - and finishes two weeks later. Next month Vikram walks out to run his new taxi business, so Dev is left all alone until his aunt Maya Desai unexpectedly turns up and offers to help out temporarily.
August 2000: Deirdre Rachid starts work as shop assistant after leaving Underworld. a few months later, Sunita Parekh also began working in the shop. Deirdre worked with Sunita for several more years before she left some months after an ill fated one night stand with Dev one Christmas.
2003: Todd Grimshaw worked part time in the shop after he left school having walked out on his A level exams. He got a job working full time as a hospital porter but continued to work part time in the shop until it was burned by Maya Sharma late in 2004. Sarah Platt works in the shop after Todd leaves.
2004: Reopens after renovations.
2010: Shop badly damaged after the tram crashes into it. Sunita Alahan is trapped in the back and Molly Dobbs and her infant son, Jack, are trapped in the front. Sunita is rescued but Molly dies before the EMT can get her out. Rebuilt.
2017: Shop interior is renovated. Current staff: Erica Holroyd.
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