The Man was a pipe-smoking pensioner who regularly attended auctions, not with any intention of buying, but more to keep out of the cold and because he was bored with the library. On one day that he attended in September 1993, he sat next to Alf Roberts who was there to witness the sale of his house at 5 Grasmere Drive as he and a reluctant Audrey planned to retire and move to Lytham St Annes. Earlier up on the sales list came the corner shop on Coronation Street and an anxious Alf, who had told the man that he was leaving the room for a while as he didn't want the stress of seeing his home sold, was stopped in his tracks at the thought of re-buying his beloved store, having sold it only a few months before to the now deceased Brendan Scott .
Alf's final bid of £55,000 was accepted, somewhat to the amusement of the man who thought he'd made the purchase in error, but Alf knew what he was doing, pulling the Grasmere Drive property out of the sale and returning to the street to tell his staggered wife that they were back to exactly the same position they had been in earlier on the year.