Coronation Street reached a low of eight million in February 1973, when Pat Phoenix quit as Elsie Tanner, Violet Carson (battleaxe Ena Sharples) was written out for most of the year due to illness, and Doris Speed (haughty landlady Annie Walker) took two months' leave due to bereavement. The audience of ITV's other flagship soap opera "Crossroads" increased markedly at this time, as its established cast, such as Meg Richardson (Noele Gordon), grew in popularity. These sudden departures forced the writing team to quickly develop characters who had previously stood in the background. The roles of Bet Lynch (Julie Goodyear), Deirdre Hunt
Coronation Street sets Brittain warehouse and a new community centre. 1989 saw a radical redevelopment of Coronation Street when the factory and community centre were demolished and replaced by three new houses, two shop units, a garage and a factory. They all stood until 2010, when a derailed tram crashed through both D&S Alahan's and The Kabin. After the tram crash, they were rebuilt to be roughly the same as they were before and remain standing to this day. Coronation Street sets The sets of the British ITV soap opera "Coronation Street" have undergone four major and several less significant changes since the