I have to say that I'm surprised by some of the responses on this thread. It's interesting that so many people are more keen on story than on 'Coronation Street' as a place.

For me, the reason I've always liked Coronation Street is down to being able to believe in Coronation Street as a real place. The characters then grow naturally from that sense of space and place. Then, when the place is believable and so are the characters, the stories work. This goes back to Tony Warren's original idea for the show and the much-quoted maxim that: 'Coronation Street is the star of the show'. Coronation Street is, first and foremost, about Coronation Street. If I don't believe in 'Coronation Street' then I find the show hard to take seriously. Sadly, I haven't believed in 'Coronation Street' for about a decade now.

Alas, Corrie is all about story now so it's not surprising that so many people (from the production team to people here on DS) are so nonchalant about the location in which things take place. I've discussed this before on other threads but Coronation Street is now just a random collection of characters who happen to inhabit the same space. Neither the place nor the characters are important now. As others have said, Corrie has fallen into the rut of being stuck in the past with regard to its sets and locations. Many of the show's sets having turned into shrines to characters who last lived there 10, 15 or even 20 years ago. As others have said on this thread, this is best seen in Jack & Vera's former home but also in the Rovers and the corner shop and Kabin after the tram crash. Following my little 'set > character > story' mantra, this screams that the current crop of characters are simply not strong enough to command the spaces in which they live or work. Fiz and Tyrone have shown no connection or commitment to their home by redecorating and clearing out Jack & Vera's things, so why should I believe in them? They live in a home that was defined by two legendary characters that once lived there but haven't been allowed to define themselves as characters in the same way. Similarly, the Rovers has been burnt to the ground and the Kabin and corner shop destroyed by a tram but all of them reconstructed brick by brick as if they are temples to days of yore. How can I take any of the characters that live, work or meet there seriously when the spaces they inhabit seem immune to change? How, then, can I believe in any of the stories that play out there?

Along with these so-called, shrines, anything that has been introduced as 'new' simply jars with me - the fancy bistro stuffed beneath a railway arch, nestled between a corner shop and a newsagent and opening out onto a scruffy back street; the posh apartments at Victoria Court squeezed awkwardly at the end of a street that's grimier than the ginnel; the gym for the same reasons as Victoria Court. These sets are disconnected from Coronation Street itself, which in turn impacts on the characters that own, live, work or meet in them and the stories that play out there.

To summarise, Corrie needs to do three things:

1) Make a decision about where the hell Coronation Street actually is and what it's meant to be like. I think we will all accept that it's no longer the rundown, rough street that it was often portrayed as being and has become very well-to-do over the years but it's also not Kensington or suburban Cheshire. The production team need to choose a 'level' for Coronation Street and stick with it, eliminating and avoiding all influences that undermine this (i.e. the bistro and its extensive wine list, Victoria Court and its luxuriously-appointed apartments).

2) Introduce a separate exterior set for the fabled Precinct that includes a medium/large Freshco store, smaller shop units, medical centre and maybe a library. I've suggested this idea a thousand times, most FMs will be bored to death of me.

3) Redevelop the current 'Coronation Street complex' and relocate some of the businesses to the precinct (bistro, salon, cab office, gym, medical centre, kebab shop). That leaves the corner shop, Rovers and the Kabin on Coronation Street along with the florist's on Rosamund Street (a set that is believable, intrinsically linked to a character from when Tracy trained as a florist when she left school) and Roy's on Victoria Street. The garage would relocate to the arches on Viaduct Street. Coronation Street would then become the show's residential 'hub' with the salon being converted into a detached house and the factory/garage being converted into mid-level flats (not the plush, fancy stuff that we have at Victoria Court). Introduce some larger Edwardian town houses through the Rosamund Street viaduct on the corner of Crimea Street.

Why did they even build that Victoria Court monstrosity when they already had those posh flats Mike and Dev used to live in? Also the characters used to go to a fancy restaurant off the street called The Clock. That made more sense than having the Bistro stuck on the end of the street does.

About 10 years ago Corrie entered a period where the production team started to believe that every set that featured on the show needed to be part of the backlot just so we could see characters coming in and out of their front door. While the interiors for the Weatherfield Quays flats (Mike's, Dev's and later Carla's) were studio sets, I'm convinced that new locations were created on the main backlot to allow them 'flexibility' of filming without having to go on location for exterior shots. This also meant that they could do what they like with the sets *cough* destroy them ad libitum (bistro explosion/tram crash, Victoria Court fire).

The phasing out of Weatherfield Quays in favour of Victoria Court was a major turning point in my ability to believe in Corrie (for the reasons I've outlined above). Would Carla give up her duplex apartment to move into Peter's tiny flat above the bookies for no real reason?

The result? This has undermined 'Coronation Street' as a place and made the characters that live there harder to believe in.

So many great posts on this page. The street is going to evolve over the course of 55 years, as viewers we can accept that it's not going to be the run-down, working class backstreet it once was at this point. It's natural that it's going to have new housing. What I can't accept is the way it's changed, many of the traditional characters decor still in the place - it doesn't sit right that people would move into a house and keep the previous occupants wallpaper, paint and I think in some cases the furniture!

Victoria Courts need burning down, The Kabin needs to go once Rita does - there's no way that's still profitable - especially with Dev's across the road that could easily sell most of what the kabin does.

No.9 staying the same used to bother me, but I think it makes sense for Tyrone who has never let go of Jack and Vera.

I like the example of No.13 with Hilda Ogden and the Websters. Hilda was, arguably, Corrie's most iconic character and her home was equally iconic (the 'muriel', the flying ducks, the serving hatch) yet when Hilda left in 1987, Sally and Kevin went straight ahead and completely renovated No.13. from top to bottom. There was no nostalgia for Hilda. Even though Sally and Kevin had been living with Hilda for some time, neither character had some weirdly morbid obsession to leave the house untouched in homage to its former occupant (à la Tyrone and Fiz with Jack and Vera). Corrie was looking towards its future and the focus was establishing Sally and Kevin as a couple and their home at No.13.

Interestingly, when Corrie did want to pay homage to Hilda's interior design prowess, this came almost 15 years later when the Websters decided to redecorate and the remnants of Hilda's 'muriel' were found underneath the wallpaper. The 'muriel' appeared for a few episodes but was covered over again. This was a nuanced, believable tribute to one of the show's greats.