In Manchester and armed with a recently launched Visit Manchester Pass, there was one obvious place to be: the Coronation Street Experience – a behind-the-scenes peek into Britain’s longest-running TV soap.
Exposing a few tricks of the trade, our guide Jeanette told how wine in the Rovers Return is actually grape or apple juice, while its famous hot pots are slops from the staff canteen.
Giving away more of the show's secrets, she revealed how, since outdoor and indoor scenes may be recorded weeks apart, meticulous details have to be noted – so if it’s raining when Ken Barlow enters his house one day, he’s sprayed with water bottles when he’s filmed inside later on.
The tour also included an exhibition and hilarious film which reminded us of some of the acerbic lines that helped turn it into one of Britain’s best-loved shows after it launched in 1960 – like Deirdre Barlow saying of her daughter, ‘‘I see our Tracy like I see asparagus – kind of an acquired taste’’. It didn’t matter that my boys weren’t avid watchers - they were fascinated by how the show is made.
The Visit Manchester Pass gives access to 12 attractions plus discounts on several entertainment and food venues for a one-off fee over one, two or three days. A one-day pass costs £79 for adults and £60 for kids. For an idea of savings, organisers claim adults can save over £60 on a typical itinerary with a £99 two-day pass.
Another stop was the Etihad Stadium, where Manchester City staff joke that only two things are red: fire exits and ketchup. As we take a tour around the football ground, our guide Andy embellishes the tale with a mischievous grin.
‘‘We’ve been trying to change the ketchup to blue,’’ he teases, ‘‘but it doesn’t look right on our chips.’’
Quips aside, the Etihad tour gives football fans of any description a fascinating glimpse into team tactics. Showing us around the home changing room, Andy told how City’s Spanish manager Pep Guardiola insisted it was round so that every player felt included during team chats.
To avoid cliques, Pep insists that only English is spoken and chooses where everyone sits, splitting up players of the same nationalities and placing the most experienced among the newbies. Each player is provided with two brand new shirts per match and only their shin pads can be personalised.
Andy also revealed how superstitious Kyle Walker always wears the shin pads his mum bought him as a 14-year-old schoolboy, handed over with the stern instruction to look after them. Twenty years later he clearly has.
Pitchside, Pep and his team are treated to comfy heated seats and subs get heat pumped out to them from the ground… while the visitors soak up the cold. It was fascinating stuff for myself, my partner Tim, our 15-year-old son Freddie and his friend Archie, also 15.
We’d arrived at the city’s Piccadilly station on an Avanti West Coast rail service from London Euston and had a top break in a top British city.
Avanti West Coast rail from London Euston to Manchester starts at £27 one-way; Milton Keynes from £18. avantiwestcoast.co.uk
