I was there about 5 years ago- basically they brought you on a tour through a number of rooms with audio visual presentation- what we didnt realise was that these rooms were behind the facade of the terraced houses until the end of the tour. We went into the Rovers which was behind the facade unlike the tour in Manchester. And we left by a side door- perhaps the one referred to earlier!- and this brought us onto the street- but it was indoors.
They also had a map on the wall of Weatherfield and where Coronation Street is within that area.
It is still possible to see the real set from the top floor of the Science Museum behind Granada.

You can also see the set from the ground floor of the science and industry museum. I've some pictures at http://www.tarantulasweb.com/derek/ together with other related pictures.
The science and industry museum is FREE to enter and is situated on Liverpool Road.
http://www.msim.org.uk/

Years ago in the 70s, the door of the toilets in the Rovers opened into Ken Barlows house.
I don`t know if it still does or not

Up until 1982 there was no actual ginnel between the Rovers and No1 Coronation Street. This was added when they rebuilt the 'new larger' set. It was said that this was the reason why Uncle Albert was so miserable - because the Rovers regulars used his living room as a toilet.
In 1982 No7 Coronation Street together with The Graffitti Club and Rosamund Street when added to the new set too.

I think if I hear "the door to the toilet opens into Ken Barlow's living room" I'll scream.

Here is my really really geeky moment - I've actually drawn a map of Weatherfield, by hand using pencil and paper. That is the saddest thing I think I've ever done!

LOL! I've done that in the past. When watching a soap and the layout just drives me mad so i draw it to try and figure out where everything is!

why cant they build more realistic sets like Brookside did using real houses and then we wouldnt find these things to nitpick over.

Obviously the set for Corrie is a lot smaller than the one for Brookside and therefore it's totally impractical. Also, with Brookside, they only ever used one camera when filming. Multi-angle takes had to be reshoot again, and again. Corrie uses 4/5 cameras per scene and this would be totally unworkable, just imagine how big the houses would have to be.

I think it's because Coronation Street has always been a studio based show, for the interiors anyway (apart from the "exterior" set up until 1968).

The current set has been so well developed since 1982, with new houses and units, the expansion into Victoria Street (where Roy's Rolls is) It would be simply too costly to rebuild the entire set.

In all honesty there's not that many things that we've "nitpicked".

This is a question for anyone who's been to the set (I've never been - can you believe that?!) - Does it still read "Dennis Tanner 1951" on the wall of number 11? We saw Elsie Tanner glance down at it as she was leaving the Street, is it still there or been weathered away?

I last visited the set in about 1995 at it did still have the engraving on 11 Coronation Street.

That's only for the studio material. All the exterior stuff 9and inside underworld) is shot single-camera (and with few exceptions, always has been).

Yes, but all the single camera stuff takes FOREVER to film. The pictures I took of Steve proposing to Karen here took well over 6 hours to film. And there were only two scenes.

I think you'd be surprised howlong the studio stuff takes too. It does go a bit faster than single-camera bit it still takes quite a long time to get a few minutes' worth of material in the can.

I was in Manchester today and after remembering people on here saying about being able to see the Corrie set from the Manchester Science museum i decided to go and have a look. I went on the tour years ago but it was great actually seeing the whole outdoor set of Corrie infront of me! No filming was going on, all we saw was a white van drive down the street and another one parked outside the bookies.
I wish they still did the tour, like once a week!

To see the set from the Musuem of Science and Industry click here and other pictures. It is worth going to just see the street, and it's FREE to enter.

Yea it sure is worth it! Thats the only reason i went in the museum.

Each house has 2 bedrooms. So what are the sleeping arrangemets in the Barlows where Ken, Dierdre, Blache, Tracey and Amy all reside?

Ken and Deirdre share, Tracey and Amy must share, and Blanche sleeps in the front room downstairs.