I freely admit that I'm a gadget freak. I'm rarely off the internet, and I view Stuff magazine less as reading material and more as a wish list. I like big tellies and powerful computers and things that go "beep" and have touchscreens.
Perhaps this is why I'm just so exorcised about the Rovers Return, and more particularly, the fact that its technological offerings are out of the Eighties. I used to dismiss it as cheap landladies not upgrading properly, but after the fire caused everything to be replaced, there's really no excuse; this place should be a lot more modern that it actually is.
Take the tills. As a regular habitué of public houses, I can tell you this: no-one has a till like the Rovers any more. Even the grimmest back street boozer has one of those touch screen tills, where different bar staff can register the drinks without having to know the price off by heart. In Coronation Street, however, the barmaids and men are required to memorise the entire drinks list because the till only has a number pad. I don't want to sound bitchy, but Eva is no Rachel Riley; I can't see her being able to add up the price of three pints, a red wine, a VAT and a packet of pork scratchings in her head. Yet there she is every week, confidently coming out with "twelve pounds eighty love" and then keeping the change. Get that girl on the Countdown Numbers Round! A modern till would certainly help matters when the "someone's been stealing from the Rovers " storyline comes back again (it's roughly on a five year cycle).
Similarly, the music provision is distinctly lacklustre. My iPod contains 10,000 songs, and yet the Rovers jukebox is still a series of CDs you flick through with a couple of big red glowing buttons. Pubs don't have jukeboxes like that anymore. They have touch screen activated music machines that can offer pretty much any tune that's been in the charts over the last sixty years. If the mood took you, you could skip straight from the Ace of Spades to the Beverley Sisters and Beyonce before putting on The Floral Dance. They're updated with the latest tracks and sometimes can even show the videos.
There's more. A TV showing sports or news, for example; I know they tried this with Karl, and Emily Bishop fainted away into her cream sherry, but honestly. It doesn't have to always be on, and they can stick it in the corner by the dartboard so we don't always see it, but just having a television would be a concession to 2014. The same with the fruit machine - wouldn't a quiz machine be more lucrative? How about a karaoke night - Michelle could do Pure and Simple, Audrey can do her 1968 hit Where Will You Be? and Sally can have another crack at Never Can Say Goodbye. She might even manage to get in tune this time. How about a cappuccino maker? Disco lights? Hell, one pub I frequent has an LCD screen advertising the latest drinks offers and theme nights.
I suppose I should just learn to let it go. I mean, this is Coronation Street; its attachment to reality is, at best, theoretical. But come on Liz - drag the pub into the 21st century!
Download our App | Follow on Twitter @CoroStreetBlog | Like on Facebook
All original work on the Coronation Street Blog is covered by a Creative Commons License
Sunday 21 September 2014
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
You might also like...
-
How is Lisa feeling now she’s off the Joel case, was this an important one for her to crack? Oh, absolutely. This was personal for so many r...
-
Sunday 27th October 2024 As the Platt’s rally around Gail’s hospital bedside, tensions are high as David feels that he is responsible. W...
-
Here are the major storylines for the week ahead on Coronation Street, all wrapped up nicely in 50 words or less. Monday October 27 to Frida...
-
It's the big day. After being on-off-on-off-on-off-on since 1997, back when they looked like this: they're finally off. For good ...
-
Wednesday 23rd October 2024 Carla informs David and Shona that she’s made an offer on their house. At No.8, an escalating row breaks out...
-
Monday 28th October 2024 Working on a case of a vandalised car Lisa realises the car was damaged on the same road Joel was attacked on t...
-
Good evening. As readers may be aware ITV X is making episodes available on the day of transmission - but for some reason this episode appe...
-
Platt Ponderings by @typingtiff The latest Corrie episode delivered tons of emotion and drama as we saw Gail recover from her heart attack...
-
We see Nick ask Toyah to keep an eye on Sam this week, and he's not great with her, but when Nick returns, Toyah has managed to win Sam ...
-
Greetings from the future! This weekend's podcast covers the episodes of Corrie airing between the 21st and the 27th October (Episodes #...
8 comments:
Fantastic!
You're so right though i wouldn't want to see the Rovers go with all those technologies. A new till, definitely, and it's odd there's no television. An updated music system would be good as well and hey, what about free wifi, with the password being bettyshotpot!
One of the reasons I'd like to drink in the Rovers is the lack of flashing lights and screens. However given the clientele I don't suppose I'd be left alone to read my paper in peace and do the crossword, so maybe it's not for me anyway.
No karaoke, please!!!!
I seek out pubs with no TVs and LCD screens, and it's getting harder. I'm praying the Rovers never stoops to either. I have noticed the increasing use of laptops and smart phones by residents of the Street which had to be done as it was frankly odd that nobody, even the young folk, appeared to have any. But as far as pubs go, for me it's the more quaint the better.
The Rovers return is quite a rough pub, I think, with regular slanging matches, and even fisticuffs, between the patrons. It's only occasionally the place you'd go for a quiet, sociable drink. A video screen would make it worse, especially if Hear Say's negligible music was on it.
And then you'd have to endure regular visits from the Queen of Sharkness herself, Tracy Luv Barlow, indiscriminately chucking pithy little verbal darts at whoever will sit still for long enough.
I'd personally stick with Steve and Lloyd for good company.
I love that picture of Liz at the end of the article. She looks nice with that hair colour.
- Pod
One or two of the pubs we go to play darts still has a cd jukebox :-) you should have seen the tills at the club where i worked as stewardess, 80s vintage :-) -Smelloid
Post a Comment