New opening in Weatherfield as Coronation Street gets a travel agents

Coronation Street will give viewers their first look at Weatherfield’s new travel agents, when a branch of Hays Travel opens on 4th December.

Hays Travel announced its new partnership with the world’s longest-running soap opera to coincide with HM The King’s Coronation back in May.

Since then, a storefront on the famous cobbles has been produced, and eagle-eyed viewers will have spotted a ‘coming soon’ hoarding from Tuesday 24th October’s episode.

Now, the branch is set to open, giving the residents of Coronation Street somewhere new to book their holidays.

The travel agent opens next to Weatherfield’s Co-Op branch, in the storefront that was previously home to EE. The location was also previously a Costa Coffee.

Dame Irene Hays, owner and chair of Hays Travel, visited the Coronation Street set where she met Peter Fergusson, ITV Business Development Controller and Anthony Privilege, Branch Manager of Hays Travel Prescot – who was selected to be ‘Honorary Manager for the Day’ of Weatherfield’s Hays Travel.

Dame Irene said: “Our thanks to the team at ITV who worked with our in-house property team on our shop’s design and production. The on set branch had to look just like all our Hays Travel shops on high streets across the UK; we are proud of the finished result and look forward to seeing it on TV in December.”

Jason Spencer, Business Development Director ITV said: “We are really proud of our ongoing partnership since Hays Travel returned to TV advertising at the start of the year and we’re now delighted to see the opening of the Hays Travel store in Coronation Street, enabling Weatherfield’s residents to have a travel agents on their doorstep for the very first time!

“We’re all looking forward to seeing Hays Travel frequently on the cobbles from December, helping make a fabulous brand even more famous across the UK and beyond.”

Anthony Privilege said: “I thoroughly enjoyed being Honorary Branch Manager of Hays Travel Weatherfield for the day! I am a huge Coronation Street fan and remember my Nan taking me to visit the set when I was a young lad. Being back on set brought back lots of memories and was quite an emotional experience.

“I think this partnership is brilliant; we have Hays Travel branches across the UK, so of course there should be one as part of the UK’s most famous street.”

The storefronts have been a fixture on Coronation Street since 2018, and have seen branches of Costa Coffee, EE and the Co-Operative open on the famous street.

At the time, ITV’s Director of Commercial Sales and Partnerships Mark Trinder said: “The expansion of the Coronation Street set has given us a great opportunity to feature branded shop facades as more of Weatherfield is opened up to viewers.

“Incorporating product placement on this scale is something we have wanted to do for some time and we’re delighted with this exciting opportunity.”

Product placement (PP) was introduced in the UK in 2011 and ITV led the way with the very first PP on British screens.

In the same year, the first peak-time product placement was introduced in Coronation Street and since then ITV has brought together brands and programmes with PP agreements across the ITV schedule, launching the biggest-ever PP in the soap in 2018 with the introduction of the shopfronts.

Mark Trinder added: “The shopfronts in Coronation Street are the pinnacle of Product Placement on British TV.”

Other product placement deals have included a Purple Bricks ‘For Sale’ sign on the Rovers Return, which is set to re-open in December, and a Nationwide ATM inside the corner shop.

Here are the Coronation Street spoilers for next week:

Monday 4th December (Episode 11127/28)

The family are devastated when Bernie receives her sentence.

Asha is shocked by Isla’s confession.

Crystal puts Daisy on the spot as she reveals she’s moving to Glasgow.

Cassie sets about decorating No.9 for Christmas.

Wednesday 6th December (Episode 11129/30)

Daisy and Ryan’s infidelity is caught on camera.

Isla drives a wedge between Nina and Asha.

Evelyn stands up to a bully.

Roy suggests that Stu build bridges with Dom and Eliza.

Friday 8th December (Episode 11131/32)

Daniel meddles in Ryan’s affairs.

Evelyn doesn’t paws for thought.

Asha discovers something in Nina’s messages.

Tyrone is furious when Cassie tells Hope she doesn’t have to go to school on her birthday.

Rovers Return reopening date confirmed

As the future of Coronation Street‘s Rovers Return remains up in the air, show producer Iain MacLeod teases what’s to come for the iconic building.

Next week, Evelyn and Cassie are in serious danger

Next week on Coronation Street, Evelyn and Cassie find themselves in danger after a well-meaning attempt to help a dog, while Cassie leads Hope astray.