Owen Armstrong

Owen Armstrong is a former owner of the Builder's Yard on Victoria Street.

Owen was a single parent, his wife having walked out on him in 1994, when he tracked his oldest daughter Izzy down to the Rovers Return Inn pub on Coronation Street in June 2010. Owen and Izzy were not talking at that time and Gary Windass warned him to back off when he thought Owen was harassing her, however he revealed that he was her father. Owen gave Izzy a peace offering and she begrudgingly agreed to have Sunday lunch with him. He also chatted up Liz McDonald whilst in the pub.

In July 2010, Owen overheard Carla Connor approaching local builder Bill Webster about refitting Underworld after it was destroyed by her phsycho ex-husband Tony Gordon. Owen offered to give Carla a quote leaving Bill furious. Owen later agreed to refurbish the factory, and when he had a row with Bill in the Rovers after Bill accused him to stealing his business, Liz stepped in and defused the situation, leaving Owen smitten with her. Izzy was less than happy when her dad started working nearby, and angered when Owen earwigged on her conversations and attempted to persuade her to dissuade her younger sister Katy from going on holiday with friends.

In August 2010, Owen offered work to Chris Gray and local builder Jason Grimshaw. He also took on Bill but was furious when he accidentally dropped a bucket of cement over Izzy, and tension between the pair rose again, although they later made a peace offering in the Rovers. Bill also agreed to sell the yard to Owen and retire. Owen flirted with Jason's mother Eileen and they arranged a date, and she got drunk on their date in the Rovers. Owen late gave her advice after she found out her landlord was selling up and she may end up homeless, and offered her a job to do the yard's books.

In September 2010, Owen continued to date Liz and pass his relationship Eileen as just business, and Sean Tully saw Owen and Liz kissing. Sean informed Eileen who berated Owen and Liz. Owen told Eileen he was going to dock Jason's wages for his timekeeping but an angry Eileen stole from the safe in the yard to pay Jason. Owen was also out of his comfort zone when he discovered Katy was dating Chesney Brown, and even more so when she started bunking off school to go to the market with Chesney where he worked.

In October 2010, when he found out Katy and Chesney had slept together, Owen was less than happy and pinned Chesney against a wall telling him to stay away from Katy. He later talked to Fiz and John about his disapproval of Katy and Chesney sleeping together at No.5. Chesney decided to move out when Fiz banned Katy from coming round and Katy suggested they find a place of their own, but Owen forbayed them from living together, but eventually gave his blessing to them staying at No.5.

In November 2010, Liz's ex-husband Jim McDonald sent her some flowers, but Owen met him at the Flying Horse and warned him to stay away from her. Owen later arranged to have Jim beaten up and hospitalized and even visited him in hospital, again threatening Jim and implying that it was him who arranged the beating.

In January 2011, Owen offered Gary, who was dating Izzy at the time, a job but when Jason accidentally locked him in a van, Gary lashed out due to his claustraphobia upon being let out. He attacked Owen but Jason managed to restrain him. He immediately sacked Gary and told Izzy that unless she dumped him he would also be reporting him to the police. Later that month, Owen checked Eileen's roof and told her that it needed thousands of pounds worth of work doing before it would deteriorate further. Eileen put in an insurance claim, however, it was rejected as the roof damage was down to neglect. Eileen blamed Owen, but he told her that she should have paid for a full survey. Whilst Eileen was going through Owen's books, Carla arrived and payed a £10,000 cheque which she owed. Eileen then stole the cheque. Carla informed Owen that she'd given the cheque to Eileen and he told Carla he had forgotten about it. Owen began to feel guilty about the way he had treated Eileen and offered to repair her roof. Owen's bank card was later rejected and he realised that his money had been stolen. He invited Eileen for a drink, where he told her that he knew she stole money from him. He then threatened to call the police. Eileen confessed her crime to her half-sister Julie Carp, who reminded her that she knew Owen had been ripping off the taxman. Eileen and Julie broke into the builder's yard and stole documents proving Owen's tax evasion. Eileen told Owen that she needed to see him. He arrived at Eileen's, where she gave him a £10,000 cheque and showed him the copies of the documents proving his tax evasion and theft. Eileen later told Sunita Alahan about Owen's tax evasion and suggested that she blackmail Owen into finishing her shop refurbishment. Knowing Eileen told Sunita, Owen secretly took Jason's house keys and let himself into Eileen's. He found the documents and took them. He filed the documents away and reported Eileen to the police for fraud. The police visited Owen and he told them that Eileen had been embezzling money from his business. Eileen was arrested, but Izzy later forced Owen to apologise to her. In July 2011, Owen purchased 6 Coronation Street so that Anna Windass would have a secure home for her adoptive daughter Faye Butler. It was clear that Owen was interested in Anna romantically but Faye interfered by stealing Owen's phone and sent a text message to Anna pretending to be Owen. Anna was baffled when the text told her that he no longer had an interest in her and was cancelling their date. It wasn't long before Gary found Owen's phone in Faye's bedroom forced her to tell the truth that she sent the text message. When Owen tried to arrange another date with Anna, she declined saying that it wouldn't be fair as Faye already had too much upheaval in her life. Owen was disappointed but told Anna that he understood. Owen and Anna were unable to fight their feelings for one another and later began a relationship but decided that it would be best to keep it from Faye to avoid upsetting her. However, Faye spotted them together and was immediately annoyed. After some initial resistance, Gary assured her that they would not abandon her and she accepted Owen from that point.

Background information

 * The character of Owen was created by producer Kim Crowther as the father of Izzy Armstrong and Ian Puleston-Davies was cast in the role, signing an initial six-month contract.
 * Owen and his on-screen family were initially given the surname "Butterfield", but it was later changed to "Armstrong".

Quotes
"I was beginning to think you'd fled the country" (First line to Izzy)