Doreen Lostock Doreen Lostock was a worker at Elliston ' s Raincoat Factory in the early 1960s . A friend of Sheila Birtles , Doreen lodged with Sheila in the Corner Shop flat in Coronation Street from 1962 to 1963 . During her time in the Street , Doreen tried her hand at various jobs , including an assistant at Sylvia Snape ' s cafe and a barmaid at the Rovers Return Inn before settling down to a shop assistant ' s position at Gamma Garments , where she worked with Emily Nugent under pompous Leonard Swindley . Chatty Doreen was always on the lookout for attractive men and spent most of her free time gossiping with Sheila . In 1963 , Doreen left the Street to join the Women ' s Royal Army Corp . Biography . Ditzy , scatterbrained Doreen Lostock was born in 1st February 1941 . She first came to Coronation Street to work at Elliston ' s Raincoat Factory sometime before 1961 . She had a relationship with Billy Walker , son of the landlords of the Rovers Return Inn pub , but although they stayed together while Billy was away doing his National Service , they split up when Billy moved to London for work . Doreen and her friend Sheila Birtles , another factory girl at Elliston ' s , liked to admire the men of the Street and gossip about the goings - on . In 1961 , Doreen quit her job at the factory having had enough of her boss Harold Pilkington groping her . She was taken on at Sylvia Snape ' s café but lost the job after only a few months when the café was bought out . Doreen quickly found work as a barmaid at the Rovers and was relieved when Annie Walker , who hadn ' t liked her when she was seeing Billy , didn ' t hold a grudge in the workplace . In 1962 , Doreen was out of work after quitting her job at a grocers shop in Rosamund Street and was taken on as a shop assistant at Gamma Garments , a clothing shop managed by Leonard Swindley . Although never short of words , Swindley wasn ' t efficient as manager and was always in fear of his own boss , Mr Papagopolous . Swindley often used Doreen and Emily Nugent in his schemes to attract business , including one scheme which saw them model a new range of clothing . Although Doreen was not sure her job was secure at the flagging business , she enjoyed it and held onto the job for more than a year , far longer than she usually stayed in jobs . Doreen and Sheila moved into the Corner Shop flat in Coronation Street that same year . They got on with shop owner Florrie Lindley but found any excuse to have a party . In 1963 , Swindley was replaced as manager of Gamma by Neil Crossley . Although charming , Neil continually failed to fulfil his work commitments and left most of the running of the shop to Emily and Doreen . The pair quickly discovered that Neil was stealing from the till , and Doreen was especially worried as Sheila had fallen for him and was dating him in secret . When Doreen confronted Sheila about it , Sheila rejected her help and fell into depression as Neil treated her terribly . Neil soon left the area and , after a brief spell in charge for Emily , Swindley returned to Gamma and things returned to normal . Sheila , however , went to live with her parents after her relationship with Neil nearly drove her to suicide . Shortly after Sheila ' s departure , Doreen herself decided to move on . She left to join the Women ' s Royal Army Corp in October , leaving her job and the flat behind for good . Quotes . " Here ye ' are . " ( First line , to Sheila Birtles and Glynis when handing over barm cakes )