5 Coronation Street

Front door of No.5 in 2013

5 Coronation Street is the third house going east on Coronation Street and is located between No.3 and No.7.

The current inhabitants of No.5 are Chesney Brown and his son Joseph, Chesney's partner Gemma Winter and their quads Aled, Bryn, Carys and Llio Winter-Brown. Chesney is the last remnant of the extended Battersby-Brown family, remaining in the house when his stepfather Les and mother Cilla Battersby-Brown left Weatherfield (although not together) in 2007, leaving Chesney in the care of his older sister Fiz Brown. Fiz moved out in 2013 to live with her fianće, Tyrone Dobbs.

In 1962, Esther Hayes - No. 5's longest-standing resident - left Coronation Street and Minnie Caldwell moved into the house as a tenant. When Mike Baldwin bought it in 1976, he modernised the interior by making the ground floor (with the exception of the kitchen) open-plan, turning No.5 into the most modern house in the Street. Since then, it has been lived in by Bet Lynch, the Langtons, the Tilsleys, the Battersbys, Don Brennan, Ashley Peacock, John Stape, Katy Armstrong, Beth Tinker, Craig Tinker and Sinead Tinker.

History

Construction

House exterior in 2019

Construction of 5 Coronation Street took place between 1900 and 1902. It was built at the same time as the other houses in the terrace. As originally configured, the house had a front parlour, a main hall, a kitchen and scullery on the ground floor and three bedrooms on the upper floor, with an outhouse in the back yard.

Alterations

By 1960, No.5 was one of the most antiquated houses in the street. Aside from the kitchen facilities being moved into the scullery, the house's layout was nearly identical to its 1902 design. In 1976, a low sale price of £2,500 and the prospect of renovation interested Ray Langton, but Mike Baldwin beat him to it. Before moving in, Mike had the parlour and hallway walls knocked down, the old fireplace replaced with an exposed red brick chimney breast, the third bedroom converted into a bathroom, and a telephone installed. Mike sold No.5 after just four months, deciding he didn't want to live in Coronation Street. Bet Lynch gained revenge on Mike for throwing her out by having Ray change the locks.

No.5 saw few changes under the Langtons and the Tilsleys. Decorations to the living room were carried out in 1988 by Ivy Tilsley with the help of Don Brennan. The next family to live in the house, the Battersbys, were council tenants. Once the pride of the street, No.5 became a tip, particularly once Janice Battersby had moved out in 2001; the only time Les Battersby knocked away part of the house's infrastructure was when his and Cilla Brown's jacuzzi fell through the floor after Chesney's pet dog Schmeichel jumped in.

Since then, the living room has been redecorated in 2010. In 2012, a botched boiler repair carried out by Tyrone Dobbs resulted in Fiz Stape being hospitalised with carbon monoxide poisoning.

List of owners and residents

Owners

• 1902-1947- Mabel Grimshaw
  A local landowner who inherited Coronation Street when the previous owner, Sir Humphrey Swinton, died before completion of the new street. Mabel carried on Swinton's work and became the first owner of the houses. In 1904, she married Charles Hardcastle, owner of Hardcastle's Mill, adding all of the properties in Coronation Street to his business empire.

• 1947-1976 - Alfred and Edward Wormold
  Property owners and landlords of several of the houses in Coronation Street.

• 1976-1977 - Mike Baldwin
  Mike bought No.5 so that he'd have a base in Weatherfield near his factory Baldwin's Casuals. Mike significantly modernised the property before moving in, knocking away the front parlour wall and installing a brick fireplace.

• 1977-1979 - Ray and Deirdre Langton
  The Langtons bought No.5 for £2,500 (plus the price of the conversion and the furniture) after Tracy was born, moving from 20 Victoria Street. Deirdre sold up when she and Ray separated.

• 1979-1984 - Ivy and Bert Tilsley
  The Tilsleys moved from Inkerman Street, buying No.5 for £7,000.

• 1984-1995 - Ivy Tilsley
  After Bert's death, Ivy carried on at No.5. She passed away in 1995 after a year away at a religious retreat.

• 1995-1996 - Nick Tilsley
  Fourteen-year-old Nick was left the ownership deed to No.5 in grandmother Ivy's will, which annoyed her widow Don Brennan. A war erupted between Don and the Platts which ended when Nick agreed to sell the house to Don for £12,000.

Don Brennan bought the house from Nick Tilsley in 1996, ending a family feud

• 1996-1997 - Don Brennan
  Having bought the house outright using his savings, Don later remortgaged the property to raise enough funds to buy MVB Motors from Mike Baldwin. Don's unhappy time living at No.5 ended when he kidnapped Alma Baldwin and drove her into the River Irwell in his taxi. Both survived, but Don was sectioned and the house was repossessed by the mortgage company, who then sold it to the council.

• 1997-? - Metropolitan Borough of Weatherfield
  After a period of at least five years, No.5 was bought by an unnamed landlord.

• ? to present - Unnamed landlord
  By 2011, the house was being rented out privately.

Residents

• 1902-1904 - Jack Leeming
  Jack and Maggie Leeming pretended to be married so that they could get a house in the new Street. They moved in on 9th August 1902. Two years later, Maggie got tired of waiting for Jack to marry her and left him. He moved out shortly thereafter.

• 1902-1904 - Maggie Leeming
  Jack's partner.

• 1904-1908 - Cissy Matthews
  Cissy was allocated a house in Coronation Street after her husband John's death in an accident at Hardcastle's Mill. Cissy moved in with her two children and lodger - and eventual husband - Tom O'Connor in 1904. The couple did a moonlight flit in 1908 after accidentally smothering their baby son Reg in bed.

• 1904 - Jake Matthews
  Son of Cissy and John. Jake drowned in the canal less than a year after moving into No.5.

• 1904-1907 - Mollie Matthews
  Daughter of Cissy and John. Mollie died from tuberculosis in 1907.

• 1904-1908 - Tom O'Connor
  The Matthews' lodger who comforted Cissy when she was grieving after her son Jake's death, and became her lover. They married at Christmas 1904 and had a son of their own, Reg, but after accidentally smothering him in bed, they did a moonlight flit.

• 1907-1908 - Reg O'Connor
  Died after being accidentally smothered in bed by his parents.

• 1908-1940 - Sidney Hayes
  Lay preacher and GPO clerk Sidney and his wife Alice moved into No.5 in 1908, and their four children were born in the house. Sidney was a conscientious objector and refused to sign up during the war, resulting in his family being ostracised by their neighbours. He was killed during an air raid in 1940.

• 1908-1952 - Alice Hayes
  Wife of Sidney. After Sidney's death, Alice retired to bed and was nursed by daughters Ada and Esther until her own death in 1952.

• 1910-1949 - Ada Hayes
  Eldest daughter of Sidney and Alice. Ada became a teacher and was resigned to a life of spinsterhood before she married Matt Harvey and emigrated to Australia.

• 1915-1916 - Fred Hayes
  Eldest son of Sidney and Alice. Fred died from diphtheria in 1916.

Esther Hayes was the house's longest-standing resident

• 1924-1962 - Esther Hayes
  Youngest daughter of Sidney and Alice. Esther spent her early adulthood looking after her bedridden mother and stayed on at No.5 alone after her death. Esther worked as head of the library division at the Town Hall. She left in 1962 to take a job at a department store which came with a flat at 96 Moor Lane.

• 1926-1947, 1961 - Tom Hayes
  Youngest son of Sidney and Alice. Tom spent the war years in prison for looting. He left No.5 in 1947 when he re-offended and returned to prison, but paid occasional visits afterwards. The last such visit was in 1961.

Minnie Caldwell lived at No.5 from 1962 to 1976, accompanied by her beloved cat Bobby

• 1962-1970, 1971-1976 - Minnie Caldwell
  Minnie often drank at the Rovers but she had never lived in Coronation Street until 1962. With Minnie came her faithful cat Bobby, and a score of lodgers. In 1970, after Joe Donelli's suicide inside No.5, Minnie couldn't live alone and spent a few weeks living with Albert Tatlock at No.1. Handel Gartside helped her move back into No.5. In 1976, Minnie left Coronation Street to live with Handel in Whaley Bridge.

• 1962-1963, 1966 - Jed Stone
  A lodger, who became like a son to Minnie. In 1963, he left town without telling her. He returned in 1966 but left again when he was arrested for handling stolen goods.

• 1963, 1966, 1968, 1973-1975 (intermittently) - Ena Sharples
  Minnie's best friend, who imposed herself on Minnie three times: when the Mission vestry was vandalised, when she resigned from the Mission in protest at its use as a community centre, while she awaited the construction of her new OAP maisonette after the Mission was demolished, and during the period when she was sacked from her position as caretaker of the Community Centre (although she could usually only stand to live with Minnie for a few weeks before leaving to stay with her friend Henry Foster in St Annes).

• 1964-1965 - Charlie Moffitt
  The resident comedian of the Viaduct Sporting Club lodged with Minnie for a year before leaving to go back to showbusiness.

• 1964 - Tickler Murphy
  Irishman Tickler stayed in Weatherfield for a month and shared a room with Charlie while lodging at No.5. He fled when Florrie Lindley set her sights on him.

• 1968 - Jenny Sutton
  Dennis Tanner's fiancée, who moved into No.5 when Elsie Tanner gave her a hard time at No.11. Jenny left after marrying Dennis.

• 1969 - Alice Pickins
  Minnie briefly took Albert Tatlock's housekeeper in when Albert put her out on the street.

• 1969, 1977-1978 - Ray Langton
  Builder Ray lodged with Minnie when Dickie Fleming refused to have him at No.3 any longer, jealous of his obvious interest in Audrey. Ray didn't stay long and moved into a flat at Albert Park. He moved back in 1977 when he bought the house and moved in with wife Deirdre and their daughter Tracy, but the new start for the family only lasted a year as they split up when Ray had an affair with Janice Stubbs.

• 1970 - Lucille Hewitt
  Lucille lodged with Minnie while her room was being redecorated at the Rovers.

1970: Joe Donelli keeps Stan Ogden hostage with a gun

• 1970 - Joe Donelli
  American army officer. After confessing to the murder of Steve Tanner, Joe took Minnie hostage inside No.5. He let her go when Stan Ogden offered to keep him company instead. When the police surrounded the house, Joe shot himself.

• 1971 - Handel Gartside
  An old friend of Minnie's, who prepared No.5 for her when she moved back after Joe's suicide. He stayed for two weeks.

• 1974-1975 - Eddie Yeats
  A friend of Jed Stone from Walton Jail, Eddie reminded Minnie of her old lodger "Sunny Jim". After staying for a few days at Christmas, Eddie returned to prison. He returned in March and stayed until July, when Ena decided he was too much work for Minnie.

• 1976-1977 - Mike Baldwin
  The hard-as-nails Baldwin's Casuals boss had a long association with Coronation Street but only actually lived there for a few months. Mike lived in London at weekends but needed to be close to the factory during the week so bought No.5, across the street. He sold it to Ray Langton the following year.

• 1976-1977 - Bet Lynch
  Mike's live-in "housekeeper" caused a stir when she moved into No.5, as the locals knew that Mike had a wife in London. In February 1977, Mike's wife Anne Woodley visited Weatherfield to inspect the factory and house and found out about Bet. Mike then ordered Bet out of No.5. Hurt to discover that Mike and Anne weren't even married, Bet refused to leave and changed the locks. She backed down and moved out when the Langtons bought the house as she had only wanted Mike to suffer.

• 1977-1979 - Deirdre Langton
  Wife of Ray and mother of Tracy. Deirdre never wanted to live in Coronation Street - she was aiming higher - but she agreed to move to No.5 as Ray liked the house. A year later, Ray had an affair with Janice Stubbs and moved alone to Holland, Deirdre declining to go with him and keeping Tracy. Deirdre then put No.5 on the market and moved out, unable to keep up with the mortgage repayments on her own.

• 1977-1979 - Tracy Langton
  Daughter of Deirdre and Ray.

1979: A new family moves into No.5

• 1979-1984 - Bert Tilsley
  Bought No.5 in 1979. Bert spent most of his time there unemployed. After a number of health problems, he died in a mental hospital in 1984.

• 1979-1994 - Ivy Tilsley
  Baldwin's Casuals factory worker and wife of Bert. Ivy remained at No.5 as a widow after Bert's death and her second husband, Don Brennan, also lived there with her after they married in 1988. Their marriage was not as rock solid as her first and they had a number of separations, the last of which was when Ivy moved to a spiritual retreat, where she died.

• 1979-1980, 1983-1985, 1986-1987 - Brian Tilsley
  Son of Bert and Ivy. Brian and wife Gail moved out when they got a house of their own at 5 Buxton Close. They also lived there from 1983 to 1985, after selling the Buxton Close house, before they rented 33 Hammond Road. Brian also lived there from 1986 to 1987 while separated from Gail.

• 1979-1980, 1983-1985 - Gail Tilsley
  Wife of Brian. Gail initially moved in when she married Brian in November 1979.

• 1981 - Vera Duckworth
  Vera first lived in Coronation Street when she moved in with Ivy after leaving Jack. She returned when Jack threatened to not take her back.

• 1983-1985, 1994 - Nicky Tilsley
  Son of Brian and Gail, born in 1980. Nicky lived at No.5 between the Tilsleys' moves from 5 Buxton Close and 33 Hammond Road. He also lived there for three months in 1994 after falling out with Martin Platt but returned to No.8 at the end of that year.

• 1986 - Ian Latimer
  A relative of the Tilsleys from Australia, Ian stayed at No.5 while in the UK. He had an affair with Gail.

• 1988-1992, 1992-1997 - Don Brennan
  Ivy's second husband. Don came to resent Ivy and left her in 1992 but moved back in when she turned to drink in his absence. After Ivy's death, Don fought to own No.5 but his life spiralled into misery. He left the house for good when he was sectioned after kidnapping Alma Baldwin.

• 1990 - Marie Ramsden
  Mother of Jamie. Ivy and Don offered Marie and her son No.5's spare room as she was living in a grotty flat but she left on Christmas Day after rowing with Ivy.

• 1990 - Jamie Ramsden
  Son of Marie.

• 1995-1996 - Josie Clarke
  A lover of Don Brennan's after Ivy's departure. Josie split from Don after they bought the garage and it went bust.

• 1996-1997 - Ashley Peacock
  Lived there for seven months as Don's lodger.

1997: Les, Janice, Leanne and Toyah Battersby

• 1997-2007 - Les Battersby
  A lazy, brash, loudmouth rogue and head of the Battersby clan, the family were rehoused at No.5 when it became a council house. Les saw the demise of one marriage and the beginning of another at the house. In 2007, he left Weatherfield to become a roadie for tribute band ZZ Top o'the Morning.

• 1997-2001 - Janice Battersby
  Les's wife. Wanting more from life, Janice had an affair with Dennis Stringer and left Les in 2001.

• 1997-1998, 1999 - Leanne Battersby
  Daughter of Les and stepdaughter of Janice. Leanne moved into No.4 when she married Nick Tilsley. In 1999, she split from Nick and returned to No.5, but her return lasted just a few days as she took up Natalie Barnes's offer of a room at the Rovers.

• 1997-1999 - Toyah Battersby
  Daughter of Janice and stepdaughter of Les. Toyah moved out to live with Spider Nugent.

• 2000-2001 - Dennis Stringer
  Les invited his old community service friend to move into No.5 when his camper van was towed away. He left to live with Eileen Grimshaw when she moved into No.11.

• 2002-2009, 2014-2017 - Kirk Sutherland
  The simple-minded brother of Maria Sutherland moved into No.5 as a lodger in June 2002 and stayed until September 2009, when he moved in with Maria at No.2a after an argument with ex-girlfriend Fiz Brown. He moved back in over four years later, when Chesney Brown agreed to take in Kirk with Beth and Craig Tinker.

• 2003 - Norris Cole
  Emily Bishop's lodger was ordered to leave No.3 when he alleged that Richard Hillman had killed Maxine Peacock. After two weeks living in squalor, Norris was relieved to be offered his room back at Emily's and didn't need asking twice.

• 2003-2007, 2014 - Cilla Brown
  Les's partner and eventual wife. In October 2007, she sold a necklace given to her as a gift from the late Frank Nichols for £45,000 and moved to Las Vegas with the money, leaving 13-year-old son Chesney with Kirk. Cilla briefly returned seven years later in October 2014, in the hope of making amends with Chesney after being diagnosed with osteoporosis. However, she returned to Wolverhampton as Chesney was unable to forgive her for abandoning him.

• 2003-2011, 2011 to present - Chesney Brown
  Chesney moved into No.5 aged nine in 2003, when Cilla moved in with Les Battersby. In 2007, Les and Cilla moved out, leaving Chesney in Kirk Sutherland's care. Chesney remained at No.5 until March 2011, when he and girlfriend Katy Armstrong moved into 14a Victoria Street as Fiz Stape was going to get rid of his beloved Great Dane Schmeichel as he was a health risk to her daughter Hope. Chesney and Katy moved back into No.5 later that year and with Fiz's departure in 2013, Chesney became the house's principal tenant.

• 2008-2013 - Fiz Brown
  Chesney's older sister moved into No.5 in March 2008 when Kirk's go at running the household saw Chesney taken into care. Fiz got the house in order in time for Chesney's return and raised her brother to adulthood. She stayed until 2013, when she moved in with Tyrone Dobbs.

• 2008-2009 - Julie Carp
  Kirk's girlfriend whom he met in Cyprus. Kirk finished with her in 2009, telling her she didn't take his ambitions seriously.

Killer John Stape fatally injured Charlotte Hoyle in No.5 during the tram crash crisis

• 2009-2011 - John Stape
  Fiz's husband moved into No.5 when he concluded his prison term for kidnapping Rosie Webster. He fled when his involvement in the deaths of Colin Fishwick, Charlotte Hoyle and Joy Fishwick emerged.

• 2010-2013 - Hope Stape
  Fiz and John's daughter.

• 2011-2013 - Katy Armstrong
  Chesney's girlfriend moved in when the couple took over No.5 when Fiz was on remand in prison. In March 2013, Chesney threw her out when he found out she'd been seeing Ryan Connor and kissed him.

• 2011-2013, 2017 to present - Joseph Brown
  Son of Chesney and Katy.

• 2014-2018 - Sinead Tinker
  Chesney's girlfriend moved into No.5 at his invitation in January 2014. Chesney threw her out in February 2017 after she slept with Daniel Osbourne, however she moved back into the property in June of the same year.

• 2014-2017 - Beth Tinker
  Sinead's aunt moved in along with Kirk and her son Craig when their previous lodgings at No.2a became too crowded.

• 2014-2017 - Craig Tinker
  Beth's son.

• 2019 to present - Gemma Winter.

• 2021 - Paul Foreman
  Paul moved in after his split with boyfriend Billy Mayhew and he moved out of their flat at 19a Rosamund Street.

Background information

• The interior of No.5 first appeared in Episode 4.
• Like most other houses in the street in the 1960s, No.5 was owned by a landlord, nominally referred to as Mr Wormold. As Coronation Street didn't have an archivist in that decade, inconsistencies between scripts were more common - for example, an early 1965 episode sees Edward Wormold (a different character from above) inform Ena Sharples that Mrs. Briggs had left her a house in Coronation Street in her will, implying that the Wormold-owned houses were actually owned by Briggs. However, only 11 Coronation Street is definitively stated to be owned by Briggs. Minnie was still renting the house when she decided to remain in Whaley Bridge in 1976, at which point Mike Baldwin bought the house.
• There is also some confusion about the ownership of the house in more recent years. In 1997 the house was repossessed and sold to the council, and it remained a council property until at least 2002, when a storyline was run in which Les Battersby, facing eviction for subletting, passed off Kirk Sutherland as his boyfriend. However, in 2011, Chesney Brown and his pregnant girlfriend Katy Armstrong faced eviction by an unseen landlord when they fell behind with rent payments; as Chesney had been putting all his money towards paying expensive vet bills for his beloved dog, Schmeichel. In the end, Chesney was persuaded it was kinder to have Schmeichel put down than to let him continue suffering.

See also

Category:Residents of 5 Coronation Street