Coronation Street place at university, and thus found his working-class background—as well as his parents, Frank and Ida (Frank Pemberton and Noel Dyson)—something of an embarrassment. The character was one of the few to have experienced life outside of Coronation Street. In some ways this predicts the growth of globalisation, and the decline of similar communities. In an episode from 1961, Barlow declares: "You can't go on just thinking about your own street these days. We're living with people on the other side of the world. There's more to worry about than Elsie Tanner and her boyfriends." Roache is the only remaining
Coronation Street sets Club on Rosamund Street was revamped and reopened as a medical centre. A new road, Victoria Street, was built to house three shops and two houses. A builders' yard backing onto the betting shop was built. To obscure one of the Granada Television buildings a new viaduct was built on Rosamund Street. This sat behind the Rovers and parallel to Coronation Street and introduced an error, as it did not appear in the opening titles aerial shots of "Coronation Street". The "viaduct" was actually a façade with an optical illusion to make it look complete. A backdrop of some Salford