Rovers Return Inn Billy first appears in Coronation Street in January 1961, but takes over The Rovers Return in 1984 after his mother Annie retires and signs the pub over to him. It doesn't last long, though, and he leaves for good in 1984, after a series of run-ins with police due to the lock-ins held after hours. Arguably the most famous barmaid on "Coronation Street", Bet Lynch was in charge of The Rovers Return for a little over 10 years. In late 1984, the brewery, Newton & Ridley, unhappy with the way the pub was being run into the ground by Billy,
Elgood's Brewery the metal vats and tuns were melted down, but the brewery retained its 17th-century Eagle Foundry (Wisbech) liquor vat. The brewery was listed as Grade II in 1983. In the brewery gardens there is a landscaped mound, on top of which stands Brewery House. This mound is the outside of the original cold store for the beer. In the First and Second World Wars the cellar doubled as an air-raid shelter. Today the cellar is unused, but the entrance is still visible from the current cold store. The gardens, which contain 200-year-old trees, a lake and a maze, are promoted