Alf Roberts Alfred Sidney " Alf " Roberts O . B . E . was an Independent Councillor in Weatherfield , husband of Audrey Roberts and longtime proprietor of the Corner Shop in Coronation Street . Although he began his working life as a member of the sorting office staff at the GPO , Alf ' s life changed drastically when his wife Phyllis died of cancer in September 1972 and when he was chosen as Mayor of Weatherfield for a one year term in 1973 , at the time intended to be the final person to hold the position . In March 1978 , Alf married Corner Shop owner Renee Bradshaw , and the following year left the GPO to help Renee at the shop . In 1980 , the Roberts sold the shop in preparation for a move , but when Renee was killed in a car accident , Alf held onto the shop and ran it himself , putting his heart and soul into the place . His proudest achievement was the conversion of the shop into a mini - market in 1985 . Later that year , he married hairdresser Audrey Potter . While they loved each other , Alf and Audrey often clashed over money . Alf was always satisfied with the cheaper option and horrified Audrey by buying 11 Coronation Street - a mere terraced house - against her wishes . In 1990 , Alf was pushed into buying a semi in Grasmere Drive , which was much more to Audrey ' s taste . One matter where Alf refused to budge however was the shop , which he bought again at auction in 1993 , after selling it earlier in the year , as he loved it so much . He sold it for good in 1994 . Alf served as councillor for over 30 years and was on the committee at the Community Centre . After losing his seat to Deirdre Barlow in 1987 Alf suffered a heart attack - the first of several health problems which afflicted Alf later in his life . In 1994 , he was chosen as Mayor again , and in 1995 his community and charity work was recognised with the OBE . He died on New Year ' s Day 1999 when he suffered a heart attack while attending Audrey ' s grandson Nick Tilsley ' s birthday party . Biography . 1926 - 1963 : The making of a Mayor . Alfred Sidney Roberts , generally known as " Alf " , was born to Sidney and Eileen Roberts on 7th October 1926 . As a boy , Alf looked up to his older brother Malcolm , his only sibling , and followed a similar career path at the GPO where Malcolm was accounts clerk . For most of the war , Alf was too young to sign up and the conflict was in its final months when Alf joined the 7th Cheshire regiment in May 1945 , serving as the unit maintenance man . When he was demobbed , Alf returned to his old job at the post office . Malcolm was now married to Phyllis Plant and Alf was a frequent caller at their home in Omdurman Street , putting his technical knowledge to good use by helping out with odd jobs . The Roberts lived in a house bought for them by Phyllis ' s wealthy father , and as Phyllis had two eligible sisters , Laura and Maude , Alf ' s parents ordered him to pick one to court in the hope that it would lead to an equally prosperous marriage . Beholden to his parents , Alf forced himself to visit his brother ' s house on Sunday evenings , when Phyllis had her sisters over to listen to light opera around her radiogram . After enduring it for a few weeks , Alf eventually made his move and arranged a date with Laura - the least unattractive sister - to see a play at the Alhambra theatre the following Saturday . Alf and Laura ' s date never took place as , hours before they were due to meet , Alf was out driving his brother ' s new Lanchester car with Malcolm in the passenger seat when he swerved into the path of a lorry in order to avoid a child crossing the road . Alf suffered a broken arm while Malcolm , who had been on the impact side , died from his injuries . Alf struggled to live with the guilt of sacrificing his brother to save the child and , out of a sense of duty to Malcolm , saw that Phyllis wanted for nothing . Months later , with Alf still making the effort for Phyllis , Sidney suggested that he marry her . Alf felt nothing for Phyllis romantically but felt morally obliged to offer her his hand in marriage . In 1950 , one year after Malcolm ' s death , the couple were married and Alf moved into the Omdurman Street house . Alf and Phyllis ' s marriage had begun on a loveless note and never grew into something more , but to renege on his wedding vows would have been considered by Alf as a betrayal of his brother and so he stuck by her . An honest and genial man , Alf was faithful to Phyllis , although they never had children and Alf never brought her along on social occasions , preferring the company of his colleagues from the sorting room at the GPO such as Frank Barlow , with whom he ' d served in the signals . Through Frank , Alf became friendly with the Barlow clan of 3 Coronation Street and a regular at the Rovers Return , becoming enough of a fixture behind the bar to go along to the Rovers ' coach trip to Blackpool for the illuminations in 1961 and the darts picnic in 1963 . After Frank moved to Cheshire in 1964 , Alf was seen less in the Coronation Street area . 1963 - 1972 : Alf does his duty . In 1967 , Alf successfully stood in the local council elections as an Independent and was elected councillor . Despite this appointment , Alf showed little passion for public service , having neither the stomach nor the inclination to fight the good fight . Nevertheless , his honesty , respectability and stainless record allowed him to forge a long and successful career . In March , Alf crossed paths with the residents of Coronation Street again when he voted to block a student meeting at the Town Hall opposing the Vietnam War , which resulted in Ken Barlow pushing it through without police permission and attending the meeting himself . The protesters were reported to the police , leading to Ken being charged and spending a week in jail . Alf became a permanent fixture in the area in 1971 when he was placed on the committee of Coronation Street ' s new Community Centre , built in the spot formerly occupied by the maisonettes alongside Mark Brittain ' s mail - order warehouse . The residents of Coronation Street were under the impression that the council was building flats but word got out about the centre when Alf blabbed to Ena Sharples , and the warehouse became common knowledge the moment that workman Fred Chapman let slip to Hilda Ogden , leading to Alf and fellow councillor Len Fairclough having to deal with a protest from the unhappy residents . Upon her return , Ena secured Alf ' s backing for the position of Community Centre caretaker by threatening to tell his superiors that he ' d let the cat out of the bag , but not only was Alf ' s vote not enough to get her the job , but Alf lost a coin toss with fellow committee member Ernest Bishop over who had to tell Ena . Ena was not beaten and , after getting it out of Alf that Hetty Thorpe had been offered the job , invited Hetty to tea and proceeded to scare her into turning down the role by making out that the area was rough and full of vandals . Having installed Ena in the Community Centre flat , Alf knew that he had to show her who was boss and so , during their next skirmish over an upcoming flower show which Ena tried to cancel on account of her " hayfever " , Alf called her bluff by pretending that the council had arranged for her to see a specialist , winning one of his few victories against the pensioner . Alf became friends with Corner Shop owner Maggie Clegg when he painted her ceiling for her and took her out to the pictures in August 1971 . Alf came to care deeply about Maggie but the fact that he was married made him and Maggie wary about seeing too much of each other and so for a while friendly chats over the shop counter were as far as their relationship went . In 1972 , Phyllis became ill with cancer and in August of that year she was taken into Weatherfield General . After a week , she fell into a coma and on 18th September she passed away . Upon learning of his wife ' s death , Alf ' s first thought was to tell Maggie but instead he went over to 9 Coronation Street looking for Len , leading to a breakdown in front of Jerry Booth . Alf ' s grief was exacerbated by guilt over his feelings for Maggie , leading him to avoid her and keep Phyllis ' s funeral low - key . Maggie , who believed that they ' d done nothing to be ashamed of , was angry at the way had Alf treated her and refused to have a collection box in the shop . 1972 - 1975 : Going up in the world . Towards the end of 1972 , Mayor of Weatherfield Harold Chapman and Alderman Charlie Rogers agreed to select an Independent as the next Mayor - the last of the borough - in order to avoid an argument over which party deserved the honour . The men decided that it would be either Alf or Len , with Rogers favouring Alf due to him being a union man . Alf gained an early advantage over Len when Len ' s girlfriend Rita Littlewood got into a fight on the opening night of The Capricorn club and ended up on Chapman ' s lap . Len dumped Rita in an attempt to regain his standing with Chapman , but it wasn ' t enough and in January , the council voted in favour of Alf . Len graciously agreed to be Alf ' s Deputy Mayor but Alf ' s choice of lady Mayoress , Maggie , turned him down after spending weeks deliberating on the subject . As he ' d been expecting her to accept , Alf hadn ' t considered anyone else and was forced to offer the position to Annie Walker , Rovers landlady , socialite and local snob who ' d been dropping hints ever since Alf was declared . In February , before taking office , Alf was giving barmaid Bet Lynch a lift home when he got lost and used a private driveway to turn around . The elderly owner , Mrs . Leach , walked into his bumper while looking for her cat . No harm came to her but her son , Norman Leach , demanded £200 compensation for her " injuries " , securing Alf ' s compliance by threatening to tell the newspapers what the Mayor - elect had been up to . Bet managed to turn the tables on Norman by threatening to report him to the police for blackmail unless he returned the cheque , correctly guessing that he had a criminal record and had more to lose from the police being involved than Alf . In May , Alf and Annie were installed as Mayor and Mayoress . Their first engagement was opening a jumble sale at St . Mary ' s Church Hall . A couple of months later , Alf ' s office was threatened when Norman Leach was implicated in the mugging of Bet Lynch . Alf told the police about the blackmail to get Leach put away , but the police wouldn ' t charge him as the courts would see the demand for money as an offer to settle out of court . Living in fear of Leach being found not guilty of assault and going to the papers , Alf decided to resign as Mayor , but on his day in court , Leach changed his plea to guilty and was sentenced to seven years in jail . The news reached Alf at the Town Hall just in time . Once the Leach " scandal " blew over , Alf and Annie settled into their roles and their year in office was free of further controversy . They bowed out on 1st April 1974 . The following month , Alf worked at the Corner Shop for the first time when Maggie took up his offer to be her stopgap assistant . He surprised Maggie by taking the job seriously , although Annie commented that he didn ' t have a natural aptitude for shop work . In June , Alf suddenly asked Maggie to marry him . Unfortunately for Alf , Maggie had met up with an old flame , Ron Cooke , that same day and when Ron heard about Alf ' s proposal he made the same request of Maggie , and it was the latter offer that Maggie took up . As Ron was due to start a new job in Zaire , Maggie moved there with him . She and Alf never said goodbye to each other , with Alf spending Maggie ' s wedding day drowning his sorrows in the Rovers . Although he held a public position , Alf was lonely in his private life and bemoaned the fact that his long marriage had left him with little experience of women . In July 1975 , he was asked by GPO canteen worker Donna Parker to retrieve a letter that she regretted posting . The letter in question was addressed to her lover ' s wife , telling her of their affair . Alf turned her down rather than break the law , but Donna nevertheless became attached to him and when her boyfriend threw her out of the flat he ' d bought her , she turned up at Alf ' s door . Flattered by the young woman ' s attention , Alf made a special effort to please her , making his home and himself available to her for as long as she needed to get back on her feet . He became infatuated with Donna , sharing a bed with her and loaning her £500 from his savings to enable her to start a hairdressing business . Donna then did a runner with the money , though Alf decided not to press charges against her , believing that the incident had taught him a lesson . A while later , Donna got back in touch and repaid the £500 , with a diamond watch thrown in as a thank you , re - affirming Alf ' s faith in human nature . 1976 - 1980 : Alf finds his calling . By 1976 , Alf was running the sorting room at the GPO . His job at the post office was unrewarding and he occasionally thought about packing it in ; when a lad he trained was promoted over him , Alf wrote a letter of resignation but changed his mind before sending it . That Spring , Renee Bradshaw bought the Corner Shop . Renee was an unmarried woman of a similar nature to Maggie Clegg , and Alf soon took a shine to her . In October , Alf put up some shelves for her in the shop , leading to dates to the cinema and the countryside . Alf even gave up his bowler hat when Renee told him that it made him look old . As they were both free agents , Alf took it for granted that love would blossom , although Renee insisted on taking things slowly . When Alf made a drunken proposal to Renee , which an equally tipsy Renee accepted , Alf started telling people they were engaged and was forced to backtrack when when it became clear that it had been the drink talking . In February 1978 , a few more months of courting behind them , Alf again asked Renee to marry him . He was sober this time , but the proposal was no less clumsy than the first ; making no mention of his feelings towards Renee , Alf instead listed reasons why getting wed made sense financially . Renee wanted to marry Alf but due to the unromantic proposal she turned him down . Alf didn ' t know what he ' d done wrong until Len , whose wife Rita had conferred with Renee , gave him a pep talk , encouraging him to make Renee feel special and not like a convenience . Alf tried again and this time Renee said yes . The ceremony took place at Weatherfield Register Office on 20th March , with Len as best man and Len and Bet as witnesses . The service went without a hitch but there was drama later at the reception , which was held in the Rovers ' Select ; having put up with Renee ' s stepfather Joe Hibbert ' s offensive comments all day , when Joe insulted Renee ' s appearance Alf hit the man sending him crashing to the floor . The Roberts spent their honeymoon in Capri . Upon their return , Alf moved out of the Omdurman Street house and into the shop ' s accommodation . In March 1979 , Alf ' s thoughts again turned to leaving the GPO , a more tempting prospect now that he had the option of early retirement and working at the shop full - time . Alf became set on the idea , but Renee thought they ' d get on each other ' s nerves and accused him of marrying her for the shop . Shortly after the row , a lorry crashed into the Rovers while Alf was drinking there , knocking him out and leaving him lying under a load of timber . Alf suffered a fractured skull and was comatose for three days , but seemed to be back to his old self when he woke up . Alf ' s last memory was his argument with Renee but , realising that he could easily have died in the crash , the Roberts called a truce , with Alf going back to the GPO . Alf regained his strength within days but the effects of his head injury didn ' t surface until later . These took the form of angry outbursts , usually about something very minor , which Alf would subsequently brush under the carpet . Annie was the recipient of his first frenzy , when Alf yelled at her over her high - and - mighty attitude . Later , he let rip at his boss Frank Roper , calling him the biggest skiver at the GPO after Frank joked that Alf was only pretending to be ill to get time off . However , Alf insisted that he ' d wanted to say those things for years and it was only when he targetted Renee , causing her to become so frightened that she threatened to leave him , that he agreed to see a doctor . Dr . Patel referred Alf to a psychiatrist , and subsequently a neurologist , who gave him a brain scan and an electro - encephalograph . When the results came back clear , a fighting fit Alf celebrated the news by taking Renee to Benidorm . In July , Alf settled on £800 compensation for his crash injuries - what seemed a reasonable sum until Alf learned that Betty Turpin had got £300 just for a cut on the head . Once the dust settled , Alf went ahead and the left the GPO , ignoring his wife ' s wishes . As an Assistant Inspector , Alf was able to medically retire with a lump sum of £6 , 000 and £2 , 000 a year pension . At the Corner Shop , Alf found his true calling , and it became the biggest love of his life above any of his wives . Renee didn ' t oppose Alf this time , and they got on perfectly well behind the counter even when an over - enthusiastic Alf reorganised the products on the shelves without her permission - when Alf forgot where he put everything , he learned his lesson without the need for a row . In June 1980 , Renee became set on moving to the countryside and twisted her husband ' s arm by suggesting that they buy a shop and run a sub - post office . Alf lined up a buyer for the Coronation Street shop and when the Roberts got the news that they ' d been granted the sub - post office they went out to celebrate , eating at a country pub . As Alf had been drinking , Renee drove the car home ; although she was still taking lessons , she felt confident enough to handle the trip . En route , Renee stalled the car while passing through a set of roadworks , causing an impatient Alf to get out of the car to switch places . Seconds later , a lorry came speeding towards the car from the opposite direction , hitting it head - on . Renee was rushed to hospital in an ambulance but died in the theatre without regaining consciousness . Alf blamed himself for his wife ' s accident , and accepted her grieving mother Daisy Hibbert ' s charge of killing her daughter by instructing her behind the wheel with a drink in him , even though a blood test had come back negative . After Renee ' s death , Alf stayed on in Coronation Street and ran the shop with Deirdre Langton as his assistant . 1980 - 1985 : The neighbourhood grocer . In September 1981 , Alf asked Gail Tilsley ' s flighty mother Audrey Potter to run the shop for him while he was on holiday in Scarborough . As she ' d nothing else to do , Audrey said yes , but even the irregular hours she put in were more than she could stick and by the time Alf came home she was spending much of her time running a hair salon in the back room . Surprisingly , Alf was impressed by her initiative and let her carry on with the venture . The company of a youthful and carefree woman like Audrey was a refreshing change for Alf , and as she ' d recently been dumped by Tony Ditchburn , Audrey was looking for a new man and Alf with his burgeoning wallet was the ideal candidate . Alf neglected his friends , and the shop , in order to be at Audrey ' s beck and call , fearing that she ' d go out with somebody else if he refused . He also let her talk him into buying a black MG sports car , setting tongues wagging . In November , he asked Audrey to marry him , but Audrey refused , having been forewarned of the proposal by Elsie Tanner . Audrey told Alf that she didn ' t want to be tied down and then resigned from the shop and returned to Tony . Alf was a conscientious businessman as well as a shopkeeper , and often thought about expanding the shop . In October 1982 , Annie set him up with wealthy widow Joyce Lomax , who got him interested in a partnership , joining her chain of convenience stores . Alf had yet to make up his mind and when Joyce pushed him to decide by making an appointment with a solicitor , Alf decided that he didn ' t want her as a partner and called off the deal . In May 1984 , Alf was re - elected as councillor . Two months later , he successfully swayed the Town Hall ' s planning committee into rejecting a proposal for a new shopping plaza . However , the plaza ' s supporters accused him of bias because of the shop and when Deirdre confided in Ken Barlow , editor of the " Weatherfield Recorder " , Ken ' s secretary Sally Waterman of the wrote an article shaming him for putting his own interests before his constituents ' . To protect the paper from a libel case , Ken refused to print it , but the story still got out as Sally tipped off the " Gazette " . Fortunately , there wasn ' t much reaction from the community at large and Alf survived with his reputation intact . The following Summer , Alf had plans drawn up to make the shop self - service and expand into No . 13 , buying the property from Hilda Ogden and knocking through . Les Pringle gave him a quote for the building work and Hilda was offered above the market value for her house . Hilda agreed to sell for £14 , 000 but Alf sensed that something wasn ' t right and learned from Bet that No . 13 ' s roof was sagging . Hilda made a guilty confession that she was selling him the house to get out of paying £2 , 000 in repairs . Inspecting the roof himself , Alf found nothing that there was nothing wrong with it and realised that Les had made it up to con Hilda . Alf immediately sacked Les and adapted his modernisation plan to extend into the shop ' s accommodation area instead . The grand opening of " Alf ' s Mini - Market " took place on 9th September . The ribbon was to have been cut by Miss Weatherfield , but when Alf was let down , Miss Weatherfield 1957 aka Bet was drafted in to do the honours . Alf was immensely proud of his achievement and the celebration went on all day , with much alcohol consumed . His last customer of the day was Rita , who came in to see the new - look shop for the first time . As his best friend ' s widow , Alf had looked out for Rita since Len ' s death in 1983 and had grown very fond of her . Met with a tipsy Alf , Rita was stunned when he asked her to marry him . Rita also cared for Alf but only in a non - romantic sense . When he proposed again - sober this time - in the Rovers , she walked out on him . Alf then got the message . A few weeks later , Audrey returned to the area , again smarting from a recent break - up . She and Alf picked up where they left off four years earlier . Alf still wanted to marry Audrey but , remembering how their relationship ended before , he was careful not to rush things . Audrey , meanwhile , older and wiser , was ready to settle down and waited for him to pop the question . In early December , Audrey had a bump in Alf ' s car when she borrowed it to meet a girlfriend . She dreaded telling Alf and when she did , his anger caused her to burst into tears , resulting in Alf comforting her with kisses - and a proposal . Unlikely couple Alf and Audrey were married at the registry office two weeks later on 23rd December , with Mike Baldwin as Alf ' s best man and Paris as their honeymoon destination . Alf was nursing a hangover when he said his vows ; on his stag night the evening before , he ' d got drunk and sat on Percy Sugden ' s prize Christmas pudding which Sam Tindall had just won in a raffle . 1986 - 1990 : The richest corpse in the cemetery . Since the modernisation , Alf had been living in the shop flat and so finding the Roberts a proper home was a high priority of Audrey ' s now that they were married . In February 1986 she found her dream home in 11 Bolton Road , a detached house which would cost the couple £42 , 000 . Mortified , without telling his wife Alf bought a house in a more reasonable price bracket - 11 Coronation Street , two doors away from the shop . The house move had made Audrey realise what kind of man she ' d married and she often made cracks about his penny - pinching ways , while Alf fought constantly to limit his wife ' s spending . Audrey ran a salon in No . 11 ' s front parlour for a while and helped out at the shop when she was needed , but she could never stick being behind the counter for long and would abandon her post for the slightest reason , usually to meet up with Alma Sedgewick or to go shopping . In March 1987 , the " Recorder " attacked Alf again , accusing him and his fellow Independents of not being interested in their constituents , based on a complaint from a single voter , Mrs Tattersall . Shortly thereafter , the local Labour party invited Ken to contest the ward in the upcoming Council election . Ken agreed and Alf called a truce in exchange for a good , clean fight - which Ken then broke by printing a load of letters slamming Alf on the paper ' s letters page . Alf sent the paper a rebuttal and when that was edited down to a minimum by Ken , Alf contacted the " Recorder " ' s co - owner Bob Statham to inform him what Ken was doing , causing Deirdre - now married to Ken - to leave her job at the shop in anger . Statham then forced Ken to drop out of the election by threatening to kick him off the " Recorder " . Alf was stunned when Deirdre then decided to stand as an Independent , egged on by Ken . Alf didn ' t think that Deirdre posed much of a challenge , as she ' d no experience in politics , but the " Gazette " latched onto the fact that he ' d once been her boss and after an interview with Radio Weatherfield the community started to get behind her . Meanwhile , until he hired Sally Webster to replace Deirdre at the shop late in the campaign Alf wasn ' t able to devote much time to canvassing . In May , Deirdre drew 811 votes to Alf ' s 804 and was elected Councillor . Alf was devastated to lose his seat and wanted time alone but Audrey dragged him to a celebratory party at the Rovers to show that they weren ' t bad losers . During the party , Alf felt ill and went home , where he suffered a heart attack . Fortunately , Audrey came back minutes later and , finding Alf gasping for breath , called an ambulance . At Weatherfield General , it was determined that Alf had only experienced a mild heart attack and would make a full recovery but Alf was ordered to change his lifestyle - a tall order for a self - employed rotund man of Alf ' s age . Nevertheless , Alf left the shop in Audrey ' s charge and gave the life of a retired man a try . After two weeks , he returned to the shop , having found retirement more stressful than working ! In October 1989 , Mike moved into a flashy new apartment at Weatherfield Quays , and after a visit and chat with Mike ' s estate agent girlfriend Dawn Prescott Audrey set her heart on buying one of the dockland flats . Alf indulged his wife by putting No . 11 on the market for £25 , 000 , agreeing to sell only if the asking price was met . He was confident that nobody in their right mind would offer that amount for it , but a couple of days later Jim and Liz McDonald did just that . To please Audrey , Alf agreed to buy a dockland flat , a gesture which pleased Audrey so much that she offered to meet him half - way and go for a semi instead . The Roberts bought a house in Hillside Crescent and in early December they made their way to their new home ahead of the removal van , only to be informed at the doorstep by the house ' s current owner , the Ballantynes , that due to a hitch in the chain they couldn ' t move out . A few days later , the Ballantynes took their house off the market . As the McDonalds had already taken possession of No . 11 , the Roberts had to live in the shop flat for a while , making them the laughing stock of the street . Audrey ' s torment continued until February when Alf secured 5 Grasmere Drive for £3 , 000 less than the asking price . 1990 - 1994 : A Councillor again . In December , Alf was made President of the Weatherfield Association of Retail Traders and Stockholders ( WARTS ) . One of the members there was Vivian Barford , widow of Alf ' s old friend Desmond and as a favour to him Alf dropped Vivian off at her house after meetings . In March 1991 , during one such ride in the car , Vivian persuaded Alf to stand in the upcoming Council elections . Alf hadn ' t planned to stand again out of concern for his health . To prove to Audrey that his heart could take it , he went for a full medical before he started campaigning and was given the all - clear . Alf hired Alec Gilroy as his campaign manager , the perfect man for a bitterly - fought battle between Alf and his main competitor , Deirdre . Alf began by attacking Deirdre ' s status as a twice divorced woman in his leaflets , only to have his efforts set back due to Jack Duckworth making a spelling mistake on the posters causing them to be printed with the slogan " Alf Roberts - The People ' s Fiend " . When appearing on Radio Weatherfield ' s " Shop Talk " programme , ostensibly to talk about the retail trade , Alf took a call from Deirdre ' s friend Phil Jennings who , using a false name , asked him about his late - night deliveries to Nightingale Lane and Mrs Barford , suggesting to listeners that Alf had a bit on the side . Audrey was well aware of Alf and Vivian ' s friendship and trusted her husband but Alf worried that it would damage his reputation as a family man . On the day of the election , the " Gazette " ran a story with the headline " Councillor ' s husband threatens opponent " accompanied by a photograph of Alf and Ken pushing each other in the Rovers . Alf was re - elected with 1 , 515 votes although his moment of triumph was spoiled somewhat when Audrey and Vivian vied to stand next to him on stage , shoving each other aside , causing Audrey to walk out . As he would be busy with Council matters from now on , Alf hired Ivy Brennan to work at the shop alongside Audrey . To Audrey ' s annoyance , Ivy persuaded Alf to stay open later and Audrey was put on the rota . Audrey issued an ultimatum to Alf - either Ivy went or she did . When Alf stood firm , Audrey carried out her threat and stayed at a five - star hotel to punish him . Alf tried to force his wife to come home by cancelling her credit card , but when she did return to him she found Vivian with Alf , who was in his dressing gown ( in reality due to Vivian calling at the house when Alf was in the bath ) . Misconstruing the situation , Audrey dumped herself on Gail and family at 33 Hammond Road and announced her intention to begin divorce proceedings . However , when this caused Alf to collapse with nervous exhaustion , Audrey realised what a fool she ' d been to think that he ' d strayed and she returned to him . Fortunately , the Ivy situation had resolved itself as she ' d gone to work at Bettabuy but Alf ' s recuperation lasted for several months and Audrey had to run the shop in that time . Alf ' s health became an ongoing worry for the Roberts . When he collapsed from an ulcer at the WARTS Christmas dinner , Audrey put Alf on a diet and bought an exercise bike . In April 1993 , Alf was saddened by the death of his friend Les Curry from a heart attack . Les was a fellow shopkeeper of advancing years , and afraid that he would go the same way Alf , now 67 , decided to do the unthinkable - sell the shop and retire . The asking price for the business and flat was £73 , 000 although Alf accepted £68 , 000 firstly from Reg Holdsworth and then from Brendan Scott when Brendan set up his fellow ex - Bettabuy supremo by convincing him to go lower . On his last day in the shop , an emotional Alf took the bacon slicer home with him as a memento , and after Brendan changed the shop around Alf managed to rescue the " Mini - Market " sign from the binmen as an additional keepsake . Now that they were no longer tied to the shop , Audrey felt that a change of scenery was in order and dragged Alf to Lytham St . Anne ' s to view a bungalow . Alf was surprisingly keen , and made an offer on the property which was accepted . While the Roberts waited for Grasmere Drive to sell , Alf geared himself up for the move and was particularly thrilled to find a golf club in St . Anne ' s which was full of retired grocers . The latter news exacerbated Audrey ' s growing doubts about St . Anne ' s and led her to decide to stay put in Weatherfield . To prove to Alf that she was serious about staying , Audrey found employment at a local dress shop , but when she was sacked for poor timekeeping after three weeks , in order to save face she offered to resign and move away with Alf after all . Meanwhile , Alf retired from the Council and , to secure a quick sale , put Grasmere Drive up for auction . Unbeknown to Alf , following the sudden death of Brendan Scott his widow Debi had decided to auction her husband ' s business . The Corner Shop went under the hammer while Alf was waiting for Grasmere Drive to come up , and he instinctively bid on it . Ultimately buying it at a knockdown price of £55 , 000 , Alf hurriedly withdrew his house from sale and pulled the Roberts ' offer on the bungalow as well as his resignation from the Council . Everything was as it was before , which satisfied Alf but his wife less so ; after Alf took possession of the shop , Audrey drove over the shop sign , smashing it . In January 1994 , the Council revived the office of Mayor of Weatherfield after 20 years and offered the position to Alf . Alf wasn ' t altogether keen but Audrey , his would - be Mayoress , attempted to twist his arm by getting Reg Holdsworth to make an offer for the shop . Alf and Reg reached a deal and on 4th February of that year Alf worked his final day as proprietor of the emporium that had been his life . 1994 - 1999 : Putting Weatherfield on the map . Alf began his year as Mayor on 2nd May 1994 . Much like in his first term in the position , Alf carried out his duties with gusto while his Mayoress enjoyed the glitz and glamour . Audrey often cried off from engagements she didn ' t fancy , such as a tree - planting at Weatherfield Comprehensive where she refused to get out of the limousine with the excuse that the grass would ruin her shoes . As the months wore on , Alf grew jealous of Audrey ' s friendship with their chauffeur , Brian Bowes . Notably , Alf ' s second year as Mayor included an official visit to Weatherfield ' s twin town Charleville , France with the Weatherfield butchers for a black pudding tasting contest . The contest never took place as when Fred Elliott was accused of trying to bribe a judge , Alf stood up for him and dramatically un - twinned the towns . Back home , sources told Alf that Fred had a reputation for backhanders and reasoning that he was probably guilty of the bribery charge , Alf apologised to the French and cancelled the un - twinning . Later in the year , when the Council were planning cuts , Alf " nobly " volunteered to give up the Mayoral limo and take the bus to official functions instead . Out of loyalty to Brian , who had been made redundant , Audrey threatened to quit as Mayoress unless Alf reinstated the limo . Her resignation was accepted by Alf , who was tired of being let down by his Mayoress and gave the position to Betty Williams . Though humiliated by the gesture , Audrey didn ' t put up a fight - at least , not until January 1995 when she heard that a Royal would be at the upcoming County Hall bash . Audrey withdrew all privileges unless Alf let her go in Betty ' s place , and when Alf refused , she recruited Fred to open the South Weatherfield Leisure Centre with her , arriving before Alf and Betty . Tired of the hassle , Alf dropped out of the do himself and let Audrey and Betty go together . Otherwise , Betty remained Alf ' s Mayoress until their term of office ended on 17th May . Shortly after standing down as Mayor , Alf was accused of embezzling money from the Mayoral charity fund as £7 , 000 was missing from the account . After enduring weeks of snide remarks , Alf was exonerated with the help of Brian Bowes , who informed him that Councillor Harry Potts used Arnold Hall as a non de plume when placing bets . Recognising Hall as one of the fund ' s payees , and learning from Brian that Harry was having an affair with Connie Holroyd , who prepared cheques for the Mayor , Alf realised that Harry was getting Connie to make up cheques for him and got Brian to repeat the story to his superior Jeremy Pilkington . When brought into Jeremy ' s office for questioning , Harry accidentally gave himself away and was subsequently sentenced to nine months in prison . In recognition of his charity work , Alf was appointed an in December . The Roberts journeyed to London to receive the honour in Don Brennan ' s cab after Audrey spent so much time looking for her diamond earrings that they missed the last train to the capital . En route , Audrey argued with Don about the recently deceased Ivy , leading an indignant Don to leave her at a service station . Alf continued on with Don to Buckingham Palace , where he dragged in Betty Williams from the crowds to go inside with him as he collected his medal . Having hitchhiked to the city , Audrey arrived too late to meet the and swore she ' d never forgive Alf . However , when Billy Williams returned a video of Alf and Betty at the Palace which Audrey never knew existed , she offered to make peace with Alf in exchange for him destroying the video . Keen to put the matter to bed , Alf capitulated . The following June , the Council recognised Alf ' s status as a leading citizen of the borough by renaming Mayfield Court old folks ' home in his honour . However , when the OAPs protested , with Lily Dempsey throwing an egg at Audrey while the Roberts were meeting a German delegation at the Town Hall , the Council changed its plans and allowed Alf a thoroughfare of his choice to name after him instead . Naturally , Alf chose Coronation Street - the place where he ' d been happiest - but after being advised by his colleague George Urquhart that Coronation Street may be demolished for a new link road , Alf picked Docker ' s Wynd instead , which then became Alfred Roberts Wynd . Alf managed to turn the situation to his advantage as he made out to the aggrieved residents of the Street that he ' d changed his mind because of their feelings on the renaming . Alf had been in rude health since his retirement but worried about the future . His driving licence expired on his 70th birthday , and when Alf backed into Dr Stirling ' s car after a consultation and then sprained his ankle during a sponsored walk , the aforementioned doctor advised the DVLA that he wasn ' t fit to drive . Alf was granted a renewal but , reeling from the news that Fred had proposed to Rita , he drove the wrong way down a one - way street and smashed into a police car , resulting in a £200 fine and Alf having to sit his driving test again . In 1997 , Alf slimmed down after years of being overweight and the following June he left the Council , retiring completely . His seat was contested by eco - warrior Spider Nugent and Audrey , who won by seven votes . Three months later , Alf bought Fiona Middleton ' s salon for Audrey , pushed into doing so when Audrey went to a willing Fred for the money . On New Year ' s Eve 1998 , the Roberts attended Nick Tilsley ' s 18th birthday party at 8 Coronation Street . Worn out from dancing , Alf slumped onto an armchair where he suffered a fatal heart attack . The party - goers thought he ' d merely fallen asleep and it wasn ' t until Audrey tried to wake him up after the bells that Martin Platt checked him over and announced that he had passed away . Alf had died so suddenly that he hadn ' t renewed his insurance policy , which expired on New Year ' s Eve . Audrey faced a difficult time in the weeks ahead as it transpired that Alf had spent most of his savings on the salon purchase and , putting aside £2 , 000 each to Nick , Sarah and David which would be held in trust until they were eighteen , Audrey was left with only £1 , 427 . 13 in cash plus the house and salon . The much - loved husband and greatly respected former Councillor and Mayor was dead , but he left a legacy which would stand for years to come . Personality . Alf was an upstanding citizen : principled , honourable , charitable , and a peerless councillor . He was liked by his colleagues at the Town Hall as he was such an affable man and , especially early in his career , a by - the - book councillor who never disturbed the status quo . He showed a bolder side when his integrity was questioned ; in 1976 , when the Council received an anonymous letter accusing Alf of taking a bribe from Dave Smith , Alf pinned it to the wall in the Rovers and lectured the regulars about their gossip . Alf was an effective Council representative at functions and an adequate public speaker , if a little pompous . His Council work dominated his life particularly during his GPO days which ended in 1979 ; he didn ' t enjoy that job and his marriage to his brother Malcolm ' s widow Phyllis was loveless and had only happened due to Alf ' s sense of duty . He was a people - pleaser with limited capacity for cunning - not an ideal quality for a councillor ; unenviable tasks were often dumped on him such as dealing with Community Centre caretaker Ena Sharples who easily bent him to her will . Alf became a widower in 1972 at age 45 . He had no experience of romance , and his subsequent attempts to pursue Maggie Clegg and Renee Bradshaw were stilted and clinical ; when he proposed to Renee , he gave her financial incentives to marry and was confused when she turned him down . He often turned to his worldly friends such as Len Fairclough for advice . The nature of his position meant that people went to Alf with their grievances , even those which were nothing to do with him . Wearing a near - permanent frown , his worries weighing heavily on his mind , Alf was easily wound up and struggled to unwind after a hard day ' s graft . On the rare occasion that he let his hair down , he shed his usual fuddy - duddy image ; in 1976 , he went to a charity stag night to see the strippers at the Gatsby Club , and was present when the club was raided by the police . In 1989 , at a club he hit the dancefloor with a random girl , even though Audrey was there . Alf ' s greatest love was the Corner Shop , and he was happiest behind the counter making chit - chat with customers . Audrey had to compete with the shop for his affections and often felt like a low priority to him . Alf ' s marriage to Audrey brought another side of his to the fore : his parsimoniousness . Alf hadn ' t been notably tight - fisted before , but when married to a woman whose main hobby was frittering away his money , it was a necessary evil to stay afloat financially . The tenants of the shop flat often fell victim to his pettiness . Alf preferred not to let the flat at all to spare himself the bother , but agreed to let it to Curly Watts in 1988 , only to be accused of being a racist for choosing Curly over Shirley Armitage , who had asked first . Curly moved out in 1989 owing £80 rent , which Alf continually brought up until Curly finally paid the debt in April 1990 so that he would allow Reg Holdsworth to rent the flat . The following year , Alf refused to carry out repairs to the flat due to the expense , going as far as to work with a sprained ankle he suffered after falling down the stairs ; as he ' d tripped over a rotten riser , reporting the accident would be as good as admitting that the flat needed work . Traits . Alf wore a suit every day . He was a regular hat - wearer and owned a bowler until Renee made him get rid of it as she thought made him look old . Alf replaced the bowler with a trilby which he nearly always sported when outdoors or at the Rovers . Alf had been overweight since he was little ; one his neighbours , Mrs Jobson , called him " Fat Alfie " . In 1994 , Alf and Audrey paid a Mayoral visit to Mrs Jobson on her 100th birthday . As Alf tucked into her cake , Mrs Jobson remembered the greedy little boy , much to his embarrassment . The portly Alf tried on several occasions through the years to slim down . In 1971 , he collected money for a sponsored slim for cancer research , and in 1983 he put £5 in a winner - takes - all kitty with Eddie Yeats , Fred Gee and Stan Ogden on who could lose the most weight . Alf won the proceeds by losing 3lb after it was discovered that Fred - who had " lost " 5lb - had had a bag of coins in his pocket at the first weigh - in . Alf efforts weren ' t helped by his habit of accepting eating challenges ; at Fred Gee ' s birthday party , he lost a bet with Mike Baldwin that he could eat cheese faster than Mike could drink a pint with a spoon , and in 1992 he ate an entire Christmas pudding from his shop to quash a rumour started by Percy Sugden that his puddings were out - of - date . Alf unwisely did so on the same day he was due to attend the WARTS Christmas dinner ; while devouring a three - course meal at the black tie event , Alf collapsed from an ulcer . It wasn ' t until 1997 that Alf changed his eating habits and slimmed down . Relationships . Frank Barlow . Frank Barlow served with a teen - aged Alf in the signals in the latter days of the war . Frank was a seasoned Navy man and 13 years older than Alf but on the battlefield a lasting friendship was formed and Alf later said that Frank was like a brother to him . After the war , both men returned to their jobs at the GPO where they worked alongside each other for a further 18 years , at the end of which Frank resigned from the post office to open a DIY shop . Against all odds , Frank made a good living from his shop and at the end of 1963 he offered to make Alf manager of a second branch . Alf believed his friend ' s tall tales of how successful he was and was about to pack in his job when a perceptive Albert Tatlock advised him that Frank was just trying to impress people . In July 1961 , Frank suspected Alf of pilfering from the GPO after seeing him take a letter from the sorting office and put it in his pocket . Out of respect for his friend , Frank didn ' t mention the subject when he next saw Alf , and he was greatly relieved when Alf confessed to pocketing the letter which was from his wife ' s sister Joan in Canada . Two years later , Alf showed his loyalty to Frank when he cornered Joe Makinson under the viaduct and had to be stopped him hitting him by Len Fairclough and Jerry Booth . Joe had went out with Christine Appleby , who was seeing Frank at the time . Alf was an occasional guest at the Barlow household and knew the whole family . In September 1961 , he waited in the house for the police to call with news of a missing Ida and was therefore first to be told that she ' d been hit by a bus and killed in Gray Street . Alf then led the constable to the Rovers Return to break the devastating news to Frank . Frank himself passed away sometime in the early 1970s , long after moving to Wilmslow . Len Fairclough . Builder and councillor Len Fairclough was Alf ' s closest friend in Coronation Street during his earlier years on the Council . Their public positions meant that Len and Alf frequently had to join forces as while Coronation Street wasn ' t in Alf ' s ward at that point , the Community Centre fell under his purview and the residents found him more amenable than Len . An early dealing between the pair took place in July 1967 . Alf and Len had invested their money in property , with Len putting up £300 of Fairclough and Booth ' s money without the knowledge of his partner , Jerry Booth . They lost their money when the Council refused planning permission on the deal , despite them voting in favour of it . Len ' s career at the Town Hall was rockier than Alf ' s as he was known to put his own interests first and face criticism with pig - headedness . In these circumstances , Alf was often caught in the crossfire ; in January 1974 , when a London development fronted by Douglas Wormold submitted an application to re - develop the Coronation Street area , Len was strongly in favour as he stood to make a lot of money by selling his three properties in the area . Alf was against the plans , but when the local residents held a meeting with him and Len on the matter , Len didn ' t turn up , leaving Alf to face the mob on his own . Len ultimately voted against the proposal , which was thrown out . Len apparently committed an unforgivable betrayal of Alf in August 1973 when , having promised to pass on the news that Norman Leach had changed his plea to guilty to stop Alf from resigning as Mayor , he was a no - show at the Town Hall . Fortunately , Alf heard about Leach from a clerk , but finding out that Len could have cost him his position caused Alf and the residents to shun him . It wasn ' t until a month later that Alf learned that the reason Len hadn ' t appeared at the Town Hall was that he ' d just rescued a suicidal woman from the canal and taken her home . In 1975 , Alf shared with Len his problems with Donna Parker who had abused his trust and stolen £500 from him . Alf felt that his lack of experience with women had made him easy prey for Donna and believed that Len wouldn ' t have been taken in by her . Annoyed on his friend ' s behalf , when Len saw Donna at the Gatsby Club the following February , he offered to rent her The Kabin flat as premises for a new salon , collecting £500 upfront which he returned to Alf only to discover that Donna had already repaid the " debt " . Len and Alf were best men at each other ' s weddings in 1977 and 1978 respectively . On Alf ' s stag night before marrying Renee Bradshaw , Len was arrested for being drunk and disorderly and spent the night in a cell , causing him to nearly miss the wedding . Len was thrown off the Council over the scandal , with Alf reluctantly backing a motion by the Independents to support a different candidate from Len ' s party . Alf continued to pass on news of interest to Len from the Town Hall , such as Joe Dawson , owner of Dawson ' s Cafe , being the one who reported The Kabin for not having customer toilets . When Len died in a motorway crash in 1983 , Alf supported Rita as best he could by organising the funeral and dealing with the Builder ' s Yard . Alf eventually developed feelings for Rita himself but they were never more than friends . Maggie Clegg . In the early 1970s , Corner Shop owner Maggie Clegg was the main woman in Alf ' s life after his first wife Phyllis , even though they were never more than friends . They struck a chord from across the shop counter , both being private people who had been in unhappy marriages . Alf showed how much he ' d come to care for Maggie in February 1972 when , after seeing Cyril Turpin pressure Maggie to go into business with Betty , he warned Cyril to leave her alone , resulting in Len and Billy Walker having to pull the pair apart to stop a fight breaking out . When Maggie learned about this , she put her foot down with Betty and announced that she would be running the shop by herself . Maggie fell out with Alf when he avoided her through guilt following Phyllis ' s death ; Maggie believed that it was no way to treat a friend . They were back on good terms by early in 1973 when Alf asked Maggie to be his Mayoress . Maggie declined as she didn ' t think she was suited to giving speeches and meeting important people , but was flattered to be asked . Although Alf was now single , he never tried to take things further with Maggie but acted jealously when he saw her with other men . In April 1973 , he got at Maggie ' s American suitor Mike Ritchie , leading Maggie to assume , when Mike returned home , that he ' d been put off by Alf . Even after Elsie Howard informed Maggie that he ' d went back to Wichita for a woman , Maggie continued to snub Alf for his pettiness . Maggie was aggrieved again in January 1974 when Alf let her pay architect Peter Shields £50 to draw up plans for an expansion of the Corner Shop even though the whole area could soon have been knocked down . Maggie walked out of Alf ' s life in July that year when she married Ron Cooke , ignoring an earlier proposal of marriage from Alf . Renee Bradshaw . Renee Bradshaw was Alf ' s second wife . They were married for just two years before Renee died when the Roberts ' car collided with a lorry . Though she was a romantic , men had never been a big part of Renee ' s life ; her last relationship before Alf was a long - distance one with Navy man Harry McClean , lasting six years . In that regard , she was well suited to Alf , whose marriage had been loveless . She even owned Maggie ' s old shop of which he was so fond . Alf and Renee ' s first outing together was as part of a foursome on a fishing trip with Mavis Riley and Fred Gee in April 1977 . The expedition ended with everybody except Alf falling into the water . When Renee caught the cold , Alf looked after the shop , at least until he caught Renee ' s cold and was moved into her bed . Their inaugural date took place the following week when Alf took Renee out to the pictures . During their courtship , Alf could be insensitive to Renee ' s needs and often disappointed her by going for the cheap options , although he usually came through in the end ; when he was in London for a course , he rang Renee from the hotel and brought her back an expensive bottle of perfume . One area where Alf needed no prompting was in defending his and his wife ' s honour . At their wedding reception in March 1978 , Renee ' s stepfather Joe Hibbert congratulated Alf for bagging himself a woman with money and property , adding that " she ' s no oil painting " . As his reasons for marrying Renee had been honourable , the latter comment caused Alf to shove Joe , sending him crashing to the floor . In 1980 , Renee started learning to drive and took lessons with Jim Lorimer . Alf didn ' t like her spending all that time with another man and took her out himself instead - a move he regretted once he saw her dangerous driving first - hand ! After her accidental death , with the sight of her sprawled across the driver ' s seat of the crashed car at the forefront of his mind , Alf tried to picture what Renee looked like when she smiled , preferring that as his lasting memory of his wife . Bet Lynch . Longstanding Rovers barmaid Bet Lynch was living in the Corner Shop flat when Alf married Renee . She ' d been a key player in the in 1973 , being instrumental in saving Alf ' s reputation and career on the Council , but otherwise their interactions had almost entirely been across the bar . Once Alf moved into the shop , he quickly found that three was a crowd - aside from the constant cloud of smoke , Bet walking around half - dressed , and the long wait for the bathroom , the Roberts often had Bet ' s boyfriends to contend with . The last straw was when Alf found out that Mike Baldwin was subsidizing Bet ' s rent . Too much of a pushover to give Bet her marching orders , Alf used various others means to get her to leave , including a disastrous attempt to matchmake her and Fred Gee which resulted in Fred asking Bet to marry him . The Roberts gave up their efforts after June 1978 when Renee ' s mother Daisy Hibbert asked if she could have the flat - suddenly Bet didn ' t seem so bad ! Bet was the Roberts ' tenant until April 1980 , when she moved out due to Alf and Renee forbidding her from carrying out her affair with Elsie Tanner ' s boyfriend Dan Johnson there . Two years later , Alf let her move back in while the roof was repaired at her bedsit in Ludlow Avenue . Alf didn ' t charge her rent as it was only short - term , but felt a fool when Bet ' s whole street was demolished leaving her with nowhere to go but the flat . Bet swore that her landlord had lied to her but made a show of walking out with her bags ( which were actually empty ) . Alf saw through the ruse but allowed Bet to stay , having missed her cheek . In August 1982 , Alf incurred the wrath of Luxy Cinema owner Mr Wainwright by banning his x - rated film . Wainwright got the " Gazette " to call at the shop and interview Bet , who was still living in the flat rent - free , humiliating Alf in the local press . Alf ordered Bet out of the flat , but changed his mind when Ken Barlow pointed out that doing so would look suspicious . The next major row between Alf and Bet was , once again , caused by Bet ' s love life . In 1983 , she began a relationship with Des Foster , a councillor and a married man . Alf gave Bet an ultimatum over Des after grudgingly covering up for Des when his wife Edith called the shop . Bet chose Des over the flat , but when she discovered that he had other women on the go aside from her and his wife , she saw sense and finished with him . Bet finally left the flat for better things when she became Rovers landlady in 1985 , although she resided there briefly in 1989 when her marriage to Alec Gilroy was on the rocks ( in typical fashion , she didn ' t give Alf the chance to say no ) . Despite their disagreements , Bet held Alf in high esteem and asked him to give her away when she married Alec . When Bet returned to Weatherfield after a seven - year absence in 2002 , she passed on her sympathies to Audrey over Alf ' s death . Unbeknown to Bet , just before she ' d left the Street in 1995 Alf had cautioned Rita against buying the Rovers for Bet to manage on the grounds that Bet , who had no savings of her own , was a financial risk , resulting in Bet losing her beloved pub . Rita Fairclough . Rita Fairclough didn ' t play much part in Alf ' s life until the death of her husband Len in 1983 . During Rita ' s period of mourning , Alf put himself at her disposal and provided her with much support and advice , including tying up Len ' s business affairs and encouraging Rita to look forward and not wallow in the past , based on his own experience as a widower . As Rita became less reliant on Alf , he continued to look out for her even when his " help " wasn ' t wanted . In April 1984 , to get back at Bill Webster for " fleecing " Rita out of £1 , 000 which she ' d loaned him to get his business going , Alf refused to give him a reference to repair the Mawdsley Street Chapel roof . He relented when Rita took him to task for his pettiness . Alf had become attracted to Rita , but had trouble expressing his feelings knowing that they wouldn ' t be reciprocated . In 1985 , upon sharing an enjoyable evening with Rita at the Community Centre ' s Valentine Dance , Alf invited her to go on holiday with him , but she went with Mavis Riley instead . Later that year , after opening the refurbished Corner Shop , Alf made a drunken proposal to Rita , who had to walk out on a ( sober ) Alf at the Rovers to make him accept that they would only ever be friends . This was cemented when Alf married Audrey three months later . Audrey never saw Rita as a threat to her marriage but she and Alf occasionally used Rita to score points off one another . In 1990 , Alf accompanied Rita to Johnson ' s Bed Warehouse , planning to buy a new bed for him and Audrey , only to be caught lying on a showbed with Rita by Audrey , who exacted revenge by purchasing the most expensive bed there . In 1994 , when Audrey decided she no longer wanted to be Mayoress , Alf offered the role to Rita who accepted on the proviso that he cleared it with Audrey . Audrey was vehemently against it but to get back at her Alf lied to his wife that it was a done deal , a move which annoyed Rita . Alf had continued to carry a torch for Rita . In 1993 , history repeated itself when a drunken Alf , upon re - opening the Corner Shop after buying it at auction , offered to leave Audrey for Rita . Alf repeated the offer when sober , but to Rita ' s relief he didn ' t push the matter and it never reached Audrey ' s ears . In 2004 , Audrey became convinced that the late Alf once had a liaison with Rita when she developed photos from her husband ' s old camera and found one of Alf and Rita on a bench in Blackpool . It was later proved that the film had been in the camera so long that the negatives had become corrupted and the incriminating photo was of two separate images combined . Ken Barlow . Despite his long friendship with Frank Barlow , encounters between Alf and Frank ' s son Ken were often adversarial . While their day - to - day interactions were cordial , Ken was an outspoken critic of the local establishment and in his journalistic career he attacked Alf and his fellow councillors on multiple occasions . Before becoming editor of the " Weatherfield Recorder " in 1983 , Ken spent eight years running the Community Centre as Community Development Officer , a position he ' d been recommended for by Alf who sat on the committee . Alf was also familiar with Ken through Ken ' s marriage to Alf ' s assistant Deirdre , and Alf had given Deirdre away at the Barlows ' wedding in 1981 . In March 1983 , Mike Baldwin bought the old warehouse in Rosamund Street with Alec Yardley and opened it as the Graffiti Club , asking Len and Alf for support . Ken gave an interview with the " Gazette " shaming the Council for losing the residents ' views , an obvious attack on Alf . Alf and his colleagues were later accused of feathering their own nests on the Council by the " Gazette " in a 1984 article , and again in the " Recorder " itself in 1987 . Alf took the attacks personally due to his association with the Barlows and , in retaliation , set events in motion which forced Ken to drop out of the upcoming Council election . In 1990 , Alf was caught in the middle of Ken and Deirdre ' s bitter separation . Having let the shop flat to Ken , Alf reconsidered his offer for Deirdre ' s sake but was unable to dislodge Ken , who cited his legal right to the property . Ken continued a tradition of Alf ' s flat tenants being more hassle than they were worth ; in 1991 he issued a list of repairs to Alf only to be accused of pulling a fast one . Following an argument , Alf tripped over a rotten riser and fell down the flat stairs , but didn ' t report the accident as he ' d have had to admit the cause and pay out . The stalemate was broken when Audrey had the work carried out behind Alf ' s back . A few months later , when Alf was standing against Deirdre in the Council elections , Ken supported Deirdre by sticking a " vote Barlow " poster on his window , which Alf ripped down even though it entailed entering the flat illegally . The day before the election , Ken found a " vote Roberts " poster glued to the outside of his window and tackled Alf in the Rovers . As their argument became physical , " Gazette " reporter Pete Waring who was in the pub at the time photographed them , providing the paper with the perfect front - page image for election day . In March 1997 , Alf received a complaint from Jean Crabtree that Ken had been passed over for redundancy at Weatherfield Comprehensive due to his affair with headmistress Sue Jeffers . Alf vouched for Ken , satisfied with his assurance that the rumour was untrue , and was therefore angry when he discovered that Ken and Sue were in fact an item . Audrey Potter . Audrey was Alf ' s third wife , who was married to him from 1985 until his death on 1st January 1999 . The first time Alf spent a significant amount of time with the unmarried Audrey was in 1981 when she stayed on at the shop after minding it while Alf was on holiday . 41 - year - old Audrey ' s youthful spirit proved to be a tonic for " Alfie " ( as she called him ) , who hadn ' t been with a woman since Renee . In order to keep Audrey around , he spent money on her and let her choose his new motor - a black MG sports car . Audrey liked Alf well enough but he wasn ' t as good - looking or as passionate as the men she usually went for , and when Alf pushed his luck by proposing marriage , she left him for her old boyfriend Tony Ditchburn . A string of bad relationships , including an engagement to the sleazy George Hepworth who made a pass at Gail , led Audrey to regret dropping Alf . In September 1985 , after being thrown out by her boyfriend Paul she returned to Weatherfield and threw herself at Alf . The couple were wed at Weatherfield Register Office two days before Christmas . Alf was Audrey ' s meal ticket . Marrying him gave her stability for the first time in her life . That he was a loving and faithful partner was a welcome change to Audrey in itself , but the biggest thing in his favour was his brimming bank balance . Alf , who had always lived modestly , found himself fighting to keep hold of his hard - earned money . In the first year of their marriage , after Alf insisted that she contribute to the Roberts ' income Audrey opened a hair salon in No . 11 ' s front parlour . The venture lasted only three months as Alf closed it down when Audrey abandoned Hilda Ogden while dying her hair , causing it to turn bright orange and forcing Alf to pay Hilda £20 compensation . Thereafter , Audrey was a part - time assistant at the shop , helping out when required , although she hated the place and tended to flit in and out as the mood took her . With Audrey , Alf had a glamorous wife with whom life was never boring . He was surprised that Audrey had ever looked twice at him and remained afraid of losing her to another man . In 1988 , Audrey suddenly fled to Canada to see her son Stephen Reid - who Alf didn ' t know existed - after he was involved in a serious car crash . Audrey was away for three months , during which time she was a guest at Stephen ' s father Malcolm ' s house in Toronto . The length of Audrey ' s absence and the lack of contact led Alf to think she ' d never return , nearly causing him to have a nervous breakdown . When Audrey returned the favour to Malcolm by putting him up at No . 11 when he visited the country to " look up relatives " , Alf cold - shouldered him , while remaining polite enough so as not to appear rude . Alf soon grew suspicious of Malcolm ' s motives and followed him and Audrey to Blackpool when they went to the seaside town as part of a Street coach trip . After spotting the pair together in a pony carriage , Alf confronted them on the coach and threatened to knock Malcolm ' s head off before dragging Audrey home in his car . Unbeknown to Alf , Audrey had just turned down an invitation from Malcolm to make a fresh start in Toronto with him , leaving Alf - who he thought was a miserable man who treated his wife like a hired hand . Malcolm was expecting a ' yes ' as Audrey had led him on , enjoying the attention . After Alf threw his things into the street , Malcolm returned to Canada empty - handed . Audrey never cheated on Alf but flirted with other men when he wasn ' t around . In 1990 she repeatedly called Jim McDonald out to 5 Grasmere Drive to repair the Roberts ' bedroom TV set . Audrey relentlessly teased Jim , leading him to call her a bored housewife . Audrey then caused a feud between Alf and Jim by pretending that Jim had made a play for her , a lie which Alf swallowed unquestionably . Liz eventually tricked the men into making peace by telling each of them that the other had apologised . Audrey vowed to turn Alf into less of a penny - pincher but history proved that Alf was right to hold onto his money . In 1988 , he endured the humiliation of having his credit card cut up after Audrey ran up a huge bill . Audrey threw herself on Alf ' s mercy , admitting that she couldn ' t handle money . Two years later , after finding out that she was down in the books as earning a salary for tax purposes Audrey was excited by the thought that Alf " owed " her £10 , 000 - a debt she swiftly called in by buying Martin Platt a new car for Gail and family . For Alf ' s 70th birthday , Audrey booked them both a spell in a health farm for £800 . As Alf wasn ' t keen , Audrey took Alma Baldwin instead . Alf duly paid for his own birthday present even though he wasn ' t going ! As he ' d never had children , Alf enjoyed being a grandfather to Nicky , Sarah and David , and was a part of Sarah and David ' s lives from birth . In 1994 , while on a Mayoral visit to Weatherfield General he spotted Martin kissing nurse Cathy Power , but didn ' t tell Audrey as he preferred not to get involved . Months later , he admitted what he ' d seen to Martin , leading Martin to confess to Gail that he ' d been unfaithful . Audrey loved Alf dearly and when she later dated Keith Appleyard it was clear that the attraction was mostly because he reminded her of Alf . When Keith found Alf ' s distinctive trilby when cleaning out Audrey ' s garage , Audrey became distressed to see Keith joking around and posing in it , insisting he took it off . Role in the community . Alf was the key local establishment figure in Coronation Street through his position as town councillor between 1967 and 1998 ( excepting 1987 to 1991 when Deirdre Barlow held the ward ) , and Mayor of Weatherfield in 1973 and 1994 . Until 1978 Len Fairclough of 9 Coronation Street was also a councillor although Alf was held in higher regard by the residents who thought him more honest than Len . Alf was seen by the neighbours as a pillar of the community and , much to his chagrin , people often went to him for help even in non - Council matters in the hope that he ' d pull strings for them . In September 1974 , Granny Hopkins got him to speak to the bank on her behalf to grant the Hopkins ' a mortgage on the Corner Shop . In 1984 , he arranged to give Mavis Riley away at her wedding to Derek Wilton , and ended up being the one who had to tell Reverend Unsworth that neither the bride nor the groom had turned up . Alf typically played it safe at the Town Hall and his vote didn ' t automatically favour Coronation Street . In June 1977 , he chose the area around the Red Rec instead of his ward to include in an Improvement Area , denying the residents grants to modernise their homes . In his later years on the Council , he was less impartial , and was guilty of opposing new ventures solely due to the effect they would have on his shop , such as in July 1984 when he fought against proposals for a new shopping plaza within spitting distance of Coronation Street . In early 1998 , Alf and his committee decided to build a Millennium concert bowl on the Red Rec , triggering a protest by Spider Nugent , Toyah Battersby , Roy Cropper , Emily Bishop and others in protection of Weatherfield ' s greenspace . Their complaints fell on deaf ears and it was only because Roy found a Roman bath house underneath the Red Rec that the endeavour was cancelled . Alf was on the committee for the Community Centre . In October 1975 , he backed Ken Barlow and Ena Sharples for , respectively , Community Development Officer and caretaker , even though they were unpopular candidates with the rest of the panel , particularly Ena who had been fired from the job two years earlier and at 76 years old could only do minor work . Having installed them in the centre , Alf was in a position of having to protect Ena when his fellow councillors tried to retire her . In July 1977 , Councillor Tattersall planned to give Ena her marching orders but backed down when Alf discovered that he ' d earmarked the job and flat for his niece . By 1981 , the Centre was a lower priority to Alf . When Fred and Eunice Gee asked to rent the Corner Shop flat , he used his contacts to secure them the job of caretaker instead to avoid having them live above him , even though they were totally unsuitable for the job . In November , Councillor Ben Critchley chairman of the Social Services committee , ordered an investigation causing Alf to sack the couple to protect his career . The Corner Shop was the other outlet through which Alf served the community , and the one closest to his heart . In December 1990 , he was made president of the Weatherfield Association of Retail Traders and Stockholders ( WARTS ) , and he became a lifetime member of the organisation when he sold the shop in 1993 . He was also a member of the Square Dealers , who honoured him in 1996 by choosing him to head Weatherfield ' s Millennium . As a small trader , Alf feared extinction in the face of competition from supermarkets . In 1990 , Bettabuy introduced a bus service to its store in nearby Albert Road , and Coronation Street was one of its pick - up points . Furious , Alf conducted a one - man protest of the service by standing in front of the bus as it pulled away , and later boarding the bus and making an appeal to the passengers , all to no avail . In 1993 , after buying back the shop Alf refused to honour OAP vouchers issued by Brendan Scott . Curly Watts allowed the pensioners to spend the vouchers at Bettabuy , pinching Alf ' s trade . During a row with Curly in front of " Gazette " reporter Mark Travis , Alf got angry and pushed a pensioner , photographed by the reporter . Legacy at the Town Hall . Alf ' s name was immortalised in 1996 when the Council renamed Docker ' s Wynd as Alfred Roberts Wynd . Shortly after his death , the incumbent Mayor offered Audrey the title of " Mrs . Millennium " in his place , although she refused the honour as she thought it made her sound ancient . In 2004 , the Council decided to posthumously recognise the former Mayor by erecting the " Alf Roberts Memorial Fountain " . At a princely sum of £45 , 000 , the project was branded a waste of public money by local taxpayers including Emily Bishop , Betty Williams , Norris Cole and Blanche Hunt who protested at the Town Hall when the plans were being unveiled after Deirdre , now a Council secretary , tipped them off . Due to the backlash , the Council dropped the fountain in favour of some public conveniences in memory of Alice Strudwick . Hobbies and interests . When persuaded to take time off , Alf preferred to put his feet up but on rare occasions he was cajoled into doing something more active . In 1980 , he was part of a ( dreadful ) barbershop quartet with Renee , Bert Tilsley and Eddie Yeats , and four years later he joined the Rovers team in a tug - of - war , competing against teams from The Flying Horse both times . In the first instance , the Rovers team failed miserably , but they scored a rare victory against their rival pub in the latter contest . Alf was usually drafted in when the residents put on a play or show . On Christmas Day 1972 , he and Ernest Bishop were the Western Brothers at the Rovers ' 40s night , while three years later he was one of the Ugly Sisters in " Cinderella " at the Centre . Despite his minor part in the production , when he did a line reading for Annie Walker she was so unimpressed with his lethargic performance that she insisted on coaching him . Alf wasn ' t much of an animal lover , as he found when he bought Harry Hewitt ' s whippets in 1961 only to return them a couple of months later . In 1976 , while at the dogs with Fred and Terry Bradshaw and three sheets to the wind the men bought a greyhound , Fred ' s Folly , from Joe Mooney . The un - trainable dog ran off when Annie Walker , on a driving lesson with Alf , swerved to avoid it , hitting Stan Ogden ' s cart . Alf had a similar experience thirteen years later when Audrey talked him into buying a half - share in Don Brennan ' s greyhound Lucky , but he withdrew his money when Lucky kept losing races . In 1996 , he bought a share in racehorse Betty ' s Hot Shot when it came in on odds of 50 - 1 . Background information . Introduction . Making his debut appearance with Episode 18 on 8th February 1961 , Alf Roberts was a recurring part for Leeds - born actor Bryan Mosley until 1971 . He was first seen at the GPO where he worked alongside Frank Barlow , and subsequent episodes in 1961 established Alf as a friend of the Barlows . Mosley ' s appearances in " Coronation Street " ended abruptly in November 1961 due to the Equity actors ' strike . Alf was brought back when industrial action ended in April 1962 but he was not as prominent , making only four appearances that year and eleven in 1963 . Frank Pemberton ' s departure from the series in 1964 caused writers to drop Alf entirely , though he was revived for two stints in 1967 where it was established that he was now a councillor - a key addition to the character which was the basis for his eventual full - time role . Five years younger than Alf , Bryan Mosley had trained at the Esme Church Northern Theatre School in Bradford and went on to work in rep all over Yorkshire . Between his stints in " Coronation Street " , Mosley pursued other , longer term , acting roles , and also worked as a stunt and fight arranger for television under the name " Buddy Windrush " , becoming a founder member of the Society of British Fight Arrangers . He was on the verge of giving up acting when he landed a part in " " which led to roles in action shows such as " " and " " , and subsequently feature films including " " , " " and 1971 ' s " " . Following his role in " Get Carter " , Mosley was considering trying his luck in Hollywood when he was invited back to " Coronation Street " full - time . Mosley accepted , making his return appearance in Episode 1050 on 8th February , ten years to the day since he debuted . He became a regular three months later with Episode 1078 on 17th May . Evolution in the 1970s . Alf was brought back as Coronation Street ' s new Community Centre was being built . His role was that of the main councillor responsible for the centre . For most of the decade , Alf neither lived nor worked in Coronation Street , and the programme rarely delved into his private life ; his day job at the post office was never seen , nor was his wife Phyllis , who was battling cancer . Phyllis ' s off - screen death took place in Episode 1218 ( 18th September 1972 ) , as revealed by Alf to Jerry Booth in an emotional scene which Mosley recalled some years later : " I did a scene with Graham [ Haberfield ] when Alf ' s first wife died and he went round to see Len , but only Jerry was there and Alf broke down . Graham and I were both emotional about that . ” " ( Coronation Street : Celebrating 30 Years , Boxtree Ltd , 1990 ) " The next big event in Alf ' s life was his appointment as Mayor of Weatherfield in 1973 . Alf being chosen over Len Fairclough - also a councillor - surprised Mosley due to Len being the more central character . According to Mosley , the storyline didn ' t play out as originally planned : " Harry Kershaw said the intention was to show people how Mayors operated , where they got their suits from and all that sort of stuff . But this was deemed not to be part of " Coronation Street " , so it was never actually shown . All we ever saw him do was go off looking posh , but it didn ' t tell you anything as to how the Mayoralty functioned , which was a missed opportunity I think . " " ( The Coronation Street Story , Boxtree Ltd , 1995 ) " When Bill Podmore became the programme ' s producer in 1976 , he observed that the character of Alf lacked purpose and paired him with incoming Corner Shop owner Renee Bradshaw , played by Madge Hindle , while also making a notable wardrobe change . Podmore : " Several things intrigued me about the mysterious Alf ; how , for instance , had he managed to wander down Coronation Street in the first place ? He didn ' t live there , and apart from his job at the local post office plus his work as a councillor , his only place in Weatherfield affairs appeared to be supping pints in the Rovers . But what really fascinated me was why on earth he chose to sup them wearing a ridiculous black bowler hat . We struck a deal . Alf could stay on the condition that he wed the lovely Renee , but the hat had to go . ” " ( Coronation Street : The Inside Story , Macdonald & Co , 1990 ) " The bowler was quickly replaced by a trilby , which was part of Alf ' s wardrobe until the character passed away in 1999 . Helen Worth : " It was Bryan that told me when I first joined that you had to have something to hang onto in the " Street " , to give something that people would remember , and in his respect it was the trilby . ” " ( The Corrie Years at Christmas , ITV Productions , 2012 ) " In 1978 , Alf married Renee and the following year he took early retirement from the GPO and joined his wife behind the shop counter , where he proved a natural . Podmore : " If I ever saw a Mr Green the Grocer waiting to be cast , it had to be Alf Roberts . " " ( Coronation Street : The Inside Story ) " John Stevenson : " He was probably the man Napoleon had in mind when he said England is a nation of shopkeepers . " " ( The Corrie Years ) " From Renee to Audrey . The Roberts ' marriage failed to inspire the writers and by 1980 , Bill Podmore and the actors concerned agreed that change was needed . Podmore chose to kill off Renee to spare Alf : " The writers tired of [ Renee ' s ] marriage to Councillor Roberts when it didn ' t prove , storywise , as fertile a ground as we had hoped , and we decided to make Alf either a widower or a bachelor again . " " ( Coronation Street : The Inside Story ) " Renee died in a car crash during a driving lesson in the countryside , with Alf instructing her . Despite his stuntwork experience , Mosley found the scenes problematic to film : " I found climbing over the car a bit difficult as I ' m not built for it . I remember having to climb over the car to get to Renee and not really believing anything was wrong because there was no real blood . " " ( The Coronation Street Story ) " Alf ' s standing improved when he became the sole proprietor of the Corner Shop , which he ran until 1994 ( with a short break in 1993 ) . In 1981 , he was first paired romantically with Gail Tilsley ' s flighty mother Audrey Potter , played by Sue Nicholls who at that point was not a regular cast member . The unlikely partnership proved to be a goldmine for comedy , with Alf ' s penny - pinching and passion for the grocery trade coming to the fore for the first time as a contrast to Audrey . In 1985 , Sue Nicholls was given a long - term contract and Alf and Audrey were married . Bill Podmore , by then executive producer , believed that the flourishing of Alf in his new marriage proved that the decision to axe Renee had been the correct one : " If time proved anything , I think it underlined that the decisions to kill off characters were correct . Alf Roberts emerged into the sunlight from the shadows of a rather humdrum marriage , and eventually with his brash new bride , Audrey , became the wonderful cornerstone character he is today . " " ( Coronation Street : The Inside Story ) " . On their screen marriage , Sue Nicholls : " I suppose one does know of couples that are totally opposite in probably character and physique too , as I am kind of thin and Alf ' s rather roly - poly , " Mosley : " And it works very well , it ' s amazing how popular the marriage is . I ' m always getting letters saying how good they are together . " " ( The Coronation Street Story ) " Declining role . On 9th June 1991 , Mosley suffered a serious heart attack . He had been in the midst of shooting a major storyline in which Audrey left Alf after an argument over Ivy Brennan working at the shop . Mosley ' s abrupt departure caused scripts after Episode 3245 ( 28th June 1991 ) to be rewritten so that the story would be resolved quickly , with Audrey returning to Alf who had had an off - screen collapse brought on by exhaustion . After Mosley returned to work in October , making his return with Episode 3300 on 4th November , Alf remained a prominent character . Although he sold his beloved shop for good in 1994 , Alf was then appointed Mayor for a second time and , in 1995 , awarded the OBE at Buckingham Palace . The latter storyline was suggested by archivist Daran Little " ( , JR Books , 2010 ) " . Mosley was struck by a second heart attack on 3rd February 1997 , soon after shooting Episode 4159 ( 14th March 1997 ) . The actor ' s health was further affected by a dramatic 5st weight loss . Mosley ' s family urged him to retire but when producer Brian Park visited him at home in Shipley and invited him to return to work , he accepted , making his comeback with Episode 4294 on 5th November . He fell ill again in January 1998 , resulting in another absence of five months . Each time Mosley returned to filming at Granada , his workload was lightened , with Alf making only small appearances which could easily be cut from scripts should Mosley drop out of shooting for health reasons . Mosley was advised to quit by family and friends , but chose to work on . Mosley : " I ' m just thrilled to be back . I love " Coronation Street " . It ' s in my blood and gives me something to get up for . I ' d become a vegetable if I stopped . I ' ll never quit . " " ( Street to kill off Alf in TV shock , The Mirror , 13th October 1998 ) " Deaths of Alf and Bryan Mosley . In late 1998 , new producer David Hanson made the decision to ignore Mosley ' s wishes and kill off Alf , for the sake of his health . Alf passed away peacefully while resting in an armchair at Nick Tilsley ' s 18th birthday party just after midnight on New Year ' s Day 1999 . Mosley shot his final scenes two months after being told that he would be leaving . Although he had previously vowed never to quit , Mosley accepted that he would have to retire at some point but had hoped to continue for a few more years : " I thought I ' d weathered the storm . To get rid of Alf now seems totally stupid . There ' s so much more for him to do . . . I had hoped to keep going at least until 2000 . I would ' ve liked to see Alf as Weatherfield ' s Millennium Man . I ' ve been here a long time and I thought they could ' ve done that for me . " " ( Alf blasts " totally stupid " axing , The Mirror , 22nd October 1998 ) " Regarding the death itself : " Filming that death scene was bloody boring , because all I had to do was sit there and pretend to be dead . Sean Wilson , who plays my son - in - law , Martin , had to shake me and say : ' Oh no , he ' s gone , Audrey . ' " In rehearsal , I leapt out of the chair and yelled : ' Surprise ! ' I couldn ' t resist it . Poor Sean nearly jumped out of his skin . Then two extras kept tripping over my feet . I had to say : ' Oi , come on , I am supposed to be dying here . ' . " " ( I fought back to life twice , then I was bumped off with just two months notice . . . it was so sad , The Mirror , 11th January 1999 ) " After Alf was killed off , Mosley gave an interview where he expressed his disappointment at being forced out , refuting claims that he wasn ' t up to the demands of filming : " I feel like a new man , the best I have felt for three years , and I kept telling the producers I was getting better all the time . " However , he understood the difficult position his colleagues were in : " When I came back , I was just pleased to be there , although I looked like something someone had dug up . I couldn ' t breathe properly . " It was a strain on everyone else because they thought : ' Is he going to drop dead , or what ? ' In fact , I looked iller than I was . But , of course , my appearance had changed so much . " He clarified his feelings : " Now I will miss Alf . But I won ' t miss the schedule . " Mosley passed away after suffering another heart attack on 9th February 1999 , six weeks after his character ' s death was transmitted . When he was buried on 14th February , Alf ' s trademark trilby was placed on the coffin . Playing Alf . To aid his portrayal of Alf , Bryan Mosley created a backstory for the character which built upon the hints which had been given over the years , including his World War II experiences . Although none of this was explored on - screen , it helped Mosley get into character : " There ' s something of a fighter in Alf . He was in the army during the war and probably had quite a difficult war . He ' s still interested in the weapons of the 1940s . All that has been glossed over . Part of the way I play him is that he has this experience behind the staid image . He has been to strip clubs with Ray Langton and Ernest Bishop , and he had a girlfriend called Donna Parker that no one in the Street , only viewers , knew . " On the differences between him and Alf : " I don ' t go along with Alf about a lot of things . I don ' t spend time in pubs – it ' s a tremendous waste of time . He has a very limited outlook on travel and is never seen to read . I ' m sure he does – he probably reads Tolstoy , but it ' s never been shown . I ' ve got my own secret world of Alf that I work from . " " ( Coronation Street : Celebrating 30 Years ) " Mosley ' s screen wife Sue Nicholls was extremely fond of the actor and often praised his performance : " I ' ll say until my dying day that lovely Bryan didn ' t get the acting plaudits and the kudos he deserved . Alf may not have been the most showy character , but he was an ordinary man and it ' s very difficult to play ordinary . Any of us , with due respect , can play over the top , do a funny walk or pull a silly face , but it ' s very difficult to play ordinary because people don ' t think you ' re acting . Bryan came into that category because he remained so wonderfully true to the character he played . " " ( Fifty Years of Coronation Street , Headline Publishing Group , 2010 ) " Quotes . " What ' s up with you today ? " ( First line to Frank Barlow ) " I ' m just gonna rest me feet for five minutes , I can ' t keep up with this young lot . " ( Final line )