Coronation Street boss reveals when the Rovers Return will re-open – but there’s a bombshell twist
PUB landlady Jenny Connor was heartbroken when she had to wave goodbye to the Rovers Return Inn.
However, during a recent chat with The Sun, Coronation Street boss Iain MacLeod revealed the iconic pub will be back. But there’s a twist.
After being bought by a brewery, shut down, staff sacked and now revamped, the Rovers will soon re-open but with a mystery new manager.
Iain teased: “The tease would be we don’t want it shut for that long thanks, because it’s like almost a character in its own right, The Rovers, so closing it has felt almost like a death, I think.”
“It’s almost as big a deal to me, really, as any of the people that might have met their sticky end at the hands of Stephen Reid, the idea that the pub’s boarded up was horrifying, and even walking up the lot and seeing that, it’s like a dagger to the heart.”
“So it’s not going to stay closed for that long, in fact, it reopens on New Year’s Eve, I think.”
“But the interesting thing about it is the circumstances of it becoming open again are all tied up with Stephen’s legacy and somebody will do something that is at best naughty, at worst slightly criminal, to get their hands on the keys to the pub and reopen it.”
“So it will reopen, but the reopening of it will be based on this slightly shaky foundation of a criminal act, shall we say.”
“So I suppose the viewers will be wondering well, okay, so the pub’s open, but what disaster will befall the person that’s allowed that to happen because it’s all based on this misdeed that they’ve committed towards the end of the year.
“So we didn’t want it, I suppose, to just open up again, and it was like nothing had ever happened.
“We wanted it to open up with this kind of buried bomb underneath it that we will explode later in the year.”
But fans shouldn’t worry – the Rovers won’t suddenly have become a Scandi inspired natural wine bar.
“It’s not going to look radically different either,” Iain said.
“Because I don’t know about you guys, but I think certain sets, I’m not saying they should never change.”
“But I’d certainly feel like I don’t want it to be modernised and gastro pubbyfied or turned into a chain pub, you know, so much like I feel weirdly protective of Deirdre’s wallpaper in number one.”
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“I do feel like the Rover’s decor, it’s going to be updated a touch but for the most part, I really like the look and feel of it at the moment.”
“So it’s going to reopen looking quite similar, but the circumstances of its ownership are going to be much more fraught.”
How will Jenny Connor (Sally Ann Matthews) react to her beloved pub being taken away from her?
Coronation Street airs every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 8pm on ITV.