It had to happen at some point. Britain's most famous pub - the Rovers Return in Coronation Street - is being touted as the latest brand by ITV to pub operators. Now we can all eat Betty's hotpot, drink pints of Newton & Ridley's and watch fights between the locals during our lunch breaks.
The Rovers Return will follow in the footsteps of fellow TV bar Cheers. The US sitcom has spawned a global empire of Cheers bars, including sites in Piccadilly Circus and its native Boston, sadly none of which contain such entertaining locals as Cliff, Norm or Woody. It has been a rather lucrative business for production company Paramount and Host Hotels & Resorts who installed 46 bars modelled on Cheers in their hotel and airport lounges.
While Coronation Street isn't that much of a global brand I'm sure that Betty's hotpot has a place in the UK pub market, even if the Rovers Return theme might wear a little thin, and an enterprising pub-co would be rather stupid to ignore the appeal of such a brand (particularly the integrated brewers who could get their beers on the most watched programme in the UK).
The funniest thing about this story? It was in the Sunday Times over the weekend, as a novelty and nothing more, but splashed all over the front page of today's Daily Star with a big, red, exclusive banner next to it. I know being the next Bet Lynch has its appeal, I just didn't think it was something worth fighting over.
Comments (1)
This entry was a nice read! I couldn't have said things better myself.
Posted by The Mighty Boosh | January 9, 2010 7:27 PM
Posted on January 9, 2010 19:27