Billy Walker William " Billy " Walker was the son of Jack and Annie Walker , landlords of the Rovers Return . Although he grew up Weatherfield , Billy moved to London to run a garage in 1961 , and only made fleeting appearances in Coronation Street until Jack died in 1970 and Billy returned to help out at the Rovers to ease the burden on Annie . A mechanic at heart , Billy was never happy behind the bar of the Rovers and left Weatherfield several times in the early 1970s to work elsewhere . In 1974 , Billy became engaged to Deirdre Hunt . With the wedding only weeks away in 1975 , Billy called off the wedding and left to take a job in Jersey , which became Billy ' s new home . In the years that followed , Billy occasionally returned , like a bad penny , usually to ask Annie for money for the latest business deal which interested him as he usually gambled his own money away and was always debt - ridden . He kept tabs on Deirdre , despite her marrying and divorcing Ray Langton in his absence , and unsuccessfully tried to convince her to make a new start with him in Jersey . When Annie retired in 1984 , Billy took over the Rovers licence at her request , but after a short time as landlord he was forced out by the brewery for holding after - hours parties . Biography . 1938 - 1969 : Early life . William " Billy " Walker was born on 8th September 1938 . His parents , Jack and Annie Walker , had been the licencees of the Rovers Return Inn for a year and the family lived in the Rovers , later joined by the Walkers ' daughter Joan , born 1940 . Annie had high aspirations for her children and sent them to Mrs Dudley Henderson Private Academy , but Billy was expelled for fighting and had to go to Bessie Street School like most other children in Coronation Street did . In the late 1950s , he was going out with factory girl Doreen Lostock ( who Annie didn ' t approve of ) when he was called away for National Service , returning from duty as a Corporal in Hong Kong in January 1961 . Billy took a job as a car mechanic at the Blue Bell Garage , and was happy to make a career out of the trade . When the boss ' s son opened a garage in Chiswick , London , and Billy was offered the job of foreman , Billy accepted and left Weatherfield to live down south , starting in a bedsit in Tufnell Park . In 1962 , he met up with former neighbour Dennis Tanner , who was also in London working for a talent agency . Dennis represented beauty queen Philippa Scopes and introduced her to Billy . Back in Weatherfield , the Walkers were surprised to read in the newspapers that the pair were engaged , and they were even contacted by reporters . Billy and Phillipa came up to Weatherfield , but Annie didn ' t take to Phillipa because of her profession . Phillipa broke off the engagement to return to beauty contests in London , closely followed by Billy who returned to his job . Billy was sacked from the garage in 1964 and was worried about keeping up with his rent . Jack helped him out and made regular payments to the landlady , Mrs . Nicholls , but when Annie found out about the payments she assumed the worst and briefly left Jack . Billy came up from London to put Annie straight , and got a new job soon afterwards . Billy ' s penchant for getting others into trouble continued when he got engaged to Merle Baker under the name David Barlow . While in Weatherfield , Merle met the real David Barlow and was surprised he looked nothing like Billy . The next time Billy visited , he was in a serious relationship again , and it was going well until the parents met his girlfriend , Chinese Jasmine Choong , in 1969 . Annie was against her because she was Chinese and they didn ' t get along at all . Eventually Jasmine left because of Annie ' s prejudice . Disgruntled Billy also left . 1970 - 1974 : Permanent return to Weatherfield . Jack died in 1970 . When Annie decided to continue as the sole licensee of the Rovers , Billy moved back to Weatherfield permanently , deciding to start afresh , look after Annie and put in the occasional shift at the Rovers . However he also looked after his own interests and , doing fairly well financially , bought the Canal Garage and employed Alan Howard as a mechanic , businessman Alan having just declared himself bankrupt . Alan had been successful and didn ' t easily get used to just being an employee . When he repaired Ken Barlow ' s mini as a favour without asking Billy , Billy was unhappy with him , but Alan wasn ' t one to make the same mistake twice and their working relationship was fine after that . Later that year , Frank Bradley used the garage to work on stolen cars . Billy was going to inform the police but relented as Frank ' s girlfriend Bet Lynch thought she could keep Frank under control . In 1971 , Billy was already thinking about moving on and moving back to London where there was a garage he was interested in buying . He held onto the Canal Garage , promoting Alan to manager , increasing his wages and giving him a share of profits - a generous offer from Billy . The garage didn ' t do good business , and Billy returned with his tail between his legs in 1972 , and £3 , 000 in debt . He cut his losses and sold the garage to Alan for £2 , 500 , and went to work at the Rovers permanently . Despite her age , Annie insisted on staying on as landlady , but the brewery Newton & Ridley preferred Billy to take over the licence . Billy turned the offer down for Annie ' s sake . Billy left for London again to motivate Annie when she had taken to bed , returning when she was up and about again . By 1973 Billy was turning into a drinker and a gambler , with seemingly nothing in his life except the Rovers , which he had always hated . He was betting using the pub ' s takings and he decided to leave quietly , but left a note for Annie . When Alan and his wife Elsie moved to Newcastle , Billy returned to Weatherfield to buy the garage and get on his feet again . Annie was curious where he got the money to buy the garage from , but Stuart Draper showed up to demand money from Billy , who had sold him a second hand car as new . Draper couldn ' t do anything legally and Billy wasn ' t worried at all that he would do anything . Draper drove the car into the Rovers door when Billy didn ' t respond to reason , but when the police moved the car Draper wasn ' t able to take matters further . 1974 - 1975 : Relationship with Deirdre Hunt . In 1974 , Billy set his sights on 19 - year - old Deirdre Hunt . He had to compete for her affections with Ray Langton , who was closer to Deirdre in age . Billy and Ray fought in the street over Deirdre , but she ended up dating Billy . The relationship moved quickly and Billy soon popped the question to Deirdre ( without a ring , which he couldn ' t afford ) . Annie didn ' t like Deirdre or her mother , Blanche Hunt , and Billy was tired of Annie ' s judgementalism . The engagement lasted for months without the pair setting a date . Later that year , Tony Bolton and Paul Meggitt stole jackets from the Mark Brittain Warehouse in Coronation Street and stored them at the garage . The police were called in to investigate stolen goods found in Paul ' s van when Billy was servicing it , but as Billy couldn ' t explain how they got there he had to spend a night in a cell . Fred Bolton shopped his own son to the police , hoping it would set him on the straight and narrow . In 1975 , Billy and Deirdre fixed a wedding date of 1st June . Annie was still against it and was taken aback when Billy agreed to pay for the wedding , which promised to be an expensive affair . Deirdre was satisfied to live in the Rovers when they got married , but later changed her mind . Billy thought Deirdre was having doubts and called off the wedding , quickly leaving for a barman ' s job in Jersey . Deirdre had been having doubts but had still wanted to marry Billy - she eventually married Ray Langton after all , but Blanche always preferred Billy . 1975 onwards : Later life . Billy made Jersey his home and only occasionally visited Annie , usually when he needed money . In 1978 , he had to return because of a possible takeover at the brewery . He was to take on the tenancy of the Rovers but the takeover fell through and he went back to Jersey . In 1979 , Billy wanted to buy a wine bar and came up to Weatherfield to ask Annie for a loan . Annie was willing to simply give him the money , but when he asked Deirdre to go with him , Annie made it clear her offer was to be withdrawn if Deirdre went along though she eventually changed her mind about this . Deirdre stayed behind as she didn ' t think Billy would be a good father to her daughter Tracy , but Annie gave Billy the money he needed . When Annie went to live with Joan in Derby , Billy returned to Weatherfield again to run the Rovers , reluctantly , in 1984 . He left at the first opportunity and was replaced by Gordon Lewis , but when debt forced him to leave Jersey , he went to live at the Rovers , and when the brewery found out they insisted he take over the licence . Not learning from his mistakes , Billy was gambling away the money he had left and offered the wine bar to Mike Baldwin , who wasn ' t interested . Deirdre was now married to Ken Barlow , and while Ken was away Billy made a pass at Deirdre , but she threw him out . He was intrigued to learn Deirdre had had an affair with Mike . Desperate to pay off a loan , Billy sunk to a new low and blackmailed Emily Bishop to get hold of the insurance money she had got when her husband was murdered in 1978 . Mike threatened to tell the police about Billy ' s crooked deals in Jersey , but Billy was persuaded to go to Annie to sort himself out . After taking over the licence , Billy wanted to sack potman Fred Gee but not pay compensation . Billy overworked Fred and goaded him into hitting him , then had his name blacklisted by the brewery . Billy was ultimately forced out of the Rovers when he opened for after - hours parties , and supplied supermarket alcohol . Newton & Ridley bought him out , bringing the 47 - year Walker empire at the Rovers to an end . Billy then returned to Jersey and was not seen or heard from in Weatherfield again . Quotes . " Pint of beer , please " ( First line , upon entering the Rovers on a surprise leave ) . " Well I cant stand around chatting to you lot . I have better things to do . Ta ' ra now " ( Final line , when leaving Weatherfield for the last time )