Megan Hopkins

Megan Hopkins was the senior member of the Hopkins family, who settled into the corner shop in 1974 and had designs on buying the business before her blackmailing of Gordon Clegg got them all evicted.

Biography
Megan 'Granny' Hopkins was the domineering mother of Idris Hopkins. Her family hailed from Wales and moved to Weatherfield in 1974 when she was persuaded to give up the chip shop she had run for years and rent the corner shop in Coronation Street. Granny was keen on the shop as she thought they could get a good price for it when owner Maggie Clegg emigrated to Zaire. She quickly set her stamp on the place by sacking shop assistant Mavis Riley, giving the job to her daughter-in-law Vera.

After time away visiting her dying mother, Vera returned to the shop, and Granny's first thought was the that money from the inheritance could go towards buying the shop, and started being as nice as possible to Vera. Always scheming, Granny wanted to replace Maggie Clegg's furniture with Vera's mother's, and demanded shop owner Gordon Clegg, Maggie's son, pay the storage fee when he said no. Eventually Maggie's sister Betty Turpin decided to sell the furniture but while moving it Granny found Gordon's birth certificate giving his mother's name as Elizabeth Preston. Granny found out from pensioner Minnie Caldwell that Preston was Betty's maiden name, and Granny deduced that this meant that Gordon was actually Betty's son, not Maggie's. Granny and Vera gave the certificate to Betty and assured her they wouldn't tell anyone, but Betty knew that Granny would use the situation to her own ends, especially considering Gordon didn't know the truth. Vera and Idris were appalled at Granny, and set about buying the shop without her.

In 1975, Granny sent a letter to Gordon, telling him about his true parentage, as revenge against Betty who returned a tin of off mincemeat. Granny didn't realise that Maggie had already told Gordon when she visited at Christmas. Gordon was furious and told the Hopkinses that he wouldn't sell the shop to them. Granny broke down and the family did a midnight flit that same night.

Personality
Despite considering herself a moral person, the lengths Granny Hopkins went to to satisfy her own needs suggest otherwise. She was driven by her own interests and failed to take into consideration other people's feelings. During their time in the Street, the Hopkinses were set apart from their neighbours, largely because of Granny's coldness towards the neighbours.