Nobby Jones was one of a number of loutish football fans who descended on the Rovers Return in March 1970 when a football special bus was scheduled to begin its journey in Coronation Street. Jack Walker was pleased at the extra income they received from the hard-drinking lads but Annie was much less so. Nobby complained at the speed of service from Annie, asking if the Rovers was self-service and pushed the others to hurry up to get the bus. When they returned after the match, he laughingly said that Annie looked sweet in her dress to which his mate Spider Smart said that his mam had a photo of someone in a similar dress in her house - taken in the Boer War.
When Annie found out what the yobs had written on the Rovers’ wall, she wrote a letter of petition to the transport authorities demanding the removal of the bus but the menfolk refused to sign it. In retaliation, Annie got the womenfolk to withdraw all of their “services” to their husbands.