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,
Rovers Return Inn the brewery was forced to change the name as the go-ahead had already been given for the street to be named Coronation Street. When Lieutenant Philip Ridley returned from active service in the Boer War, the pub was named in his honour. In 1918, to celebrate the return of the soldiers from World War I, the apostrophe was removed, thus making it "The Rovers Return". When "Coronation Street" began in 1960, the signage of the pub read "The Rovers Return" but at some point was changed to read "Rovers Return Inn", without a "The". Originally, the pub was divided into