knocked into one large room. The living quarters downstairs bear no resemblance to the exterior set of the pub. In reality, the living room (the "backroom") would be in the middle of the street at the side of the pub, outside the medical centre. Since 1960 the toilet and cellar doors on the other side of the building would seem to enter the Barlow's kitchen, next door at number one Coronation Street. There is also no obvious room for a commercial kitchen, despite the lunchtime serving of Betty Williams' (Betty Driver) noted hotpot while she was a barmaid at the pub. Since 2008, viewers have seen scenes in a kitchen/dining room in the upstairs of the pub (for use by the licensee/residents), although no other characters had ever used or referred to this room previously. A mock-up of the snug was a feature of the Granada Studios Tour. The set's exterior doors are narrower than the doors on the interior set. This has always been the case as the exterior set is reduced in scale. In early 2008, the Rovers Return was redecorated, giving it a fresh look more than 20 years after the refurbishment which followed the fire of 1986. It received new wallpaper, re-upholstered seating, new flooring and new light fittings. A smoking shelter was built, which is accessed by a new door in the main pub area. This door has not been seen on screen. Since that makeover in February 2008, the wallpaper was changed again in October 2008, making its on-screen debut on 17 October 2008. The producers were dissatisfied with the choice of wallpaper in February 2008. The new wallpaper is similar to the wallpaper used after the 1986 fire which hung in The Rovers for 22 years. The change of décor in February 2008 was a storyline in the show, in which Liz McDonald's (Beverley Callard) husband Vernon Tomlin (Ian Reddington) hired friends to redecorate. The new look of The Rovers in October 2008 was not explained in the story. A few weeks later, Emily Bishop (Eileen Derbyshire) commented to Jed Stone (Kenneth Cope) that the local pub had "recently" been redecorated. Major events The fictional timeline proceeds as follows: 13 May 1964: Martha Longhurst (Lynne Carol) dies after suffering a heart attack in the snug of The Rovers. 7 March 1979: A lorry crashes into The Rovers Return, injuring several people including Alf