Tricia Hopkins Tricia Hopkins was the daughter of Idris and Vera Hopkins . At seventeen , Tricia moved to Coronation Street with her parents and grandmother when the family became managers of the Corner Shop , opposite the Mark Brittain Warehouse where Tricia worked as a secretary . The Hopkins ' stewardship of the shop was brief , with all of the family except for Tricia leaving in a moonlight flit early in 1975 . Tricia remained in the Street for another year , living at the shop flat with her friend Gail Potter until they were forced out by new owner Renee Bradshaw . Always more interested in boys , Tricia couldn ' t find work and left the Street to return to her parents . Biography . Tricia was the only child of shopkeeper Vera Hopkins and foundry worker Idris Hopkins , a Welshman . She was born on 5th March 1957 and grew up in Weatherfield . Though she was somewhat pampered , Tricia longed for independence , being in the unenviable position of being under the thumb of not only her parents , but also the family ' s interfering moral compass , Granny Hopkins . Fortunately , Granny ' s efforts were mostly focused on Vera and Idris , with Tricia escaping her watchful gaze and so she was not always disciplined for her mischief . In September 1973 at age sixteen , Tricia and her schoolfriend Lindsay Mather dressed up and lied about their ages to be served with Bacardi and Coke ' s at the Rovers Return . When Vera found out about this , she frogmarched Tricia to the Rovers in her school uniform to pin the blame on Annie Walker for serving under - age girls , but Annie turned the argument against her , pointing out that Tricia had been given enough money to afford to fashionable clothes and expensive drinks . Tricia and her family re - appeared in Coronation Street in July 1974 , when Granny arranged to rent the Corner Shop from Gordon Clegg . The Hopkins family then moved into the shop ' s accommodation . By this point , Tricia had left school and was working as a secretary at the Mark Brittain Warehouse . Tricia spent her first few weeks in the Street throwing herself at Ray Langton , who had chatted her up in the Rovers the year before . Although he didn ' t mind a harmless flirtation , Ray had no intention of reciprocating Tricia ' s interest now that he was aware how young she was . When Tricia ' s friend from the warehouse Gail Potter took a polaroid of Tricia and Ray together in which they looked like a couple , Ray was embarrassed and , after being warned by Idris , made his position clear to Tricia by going after Deirdre Hunt in front of her . Tricia made a vain attempt to lay claim to Ray by showing Deirdre the polaroid , but backed down when she found out Idris had warned Ray off . The picture was then found by Granny , who locked Tricia in her room and subjected her to a moral preaching . In late 1974 , the discovery of a birth certificate in the Hopkins household belonging to Gordon Clegg , revealing his mother to be Betty Turpin rather than Maggie Clegg , and Granny Hopkins subsequently trying to use the information to her advantage , resulted in the family falling out with their landlord . In February 1975 , The family did a moonlight flit ; only Tricia , who had not been involved in the row , returned to the Street . While Blanche Hunt took over the running of the shop , Gordon agreed to rent the upstairs flat to Tricia and Gail . The girls held a flatwarming and invited their boyfriends Jeff Lee and Tim Russell although the lads almost didn ' t come as they were put off when they saw older residents like Annie Walker setting off for the event . While living and working together , Tricia and Gail were almost never apart . They could often be found giggling together in the Rovers or The Kabin , plotting how to land themselves with boyfriends or arguing trivialities with each other , with Tricia being the more impassive of the pair . Despite their youth , they were friendly with the older Street residents and respectful of them ; they distracted Albert Tatlock while the Street was prepared for his 80th birthday party , they took in Ena Sharples for a few nights when she had nowhere else to go , and went to a midnight party in the Rovers Snug where they tried to contact the late Martha Longhurst with a ouija board . In August , they borrowed the Ogdens ' tandem to show off their hotpants although Jerry Booth gatecrashed the session and Tricia got bored and went home . She was livid to find out that Gail had went off with a Porsche driver and returned the next day . In October 1975 , when a discarded cigarette started a fire at the warehouse , Tricia was trapped in a toilet and rescued by Ken Barlow . The warehouse burned down and the girls lost their jobs . While the Street was evacuated , Tricia and Gail stayed with the Deirdre and Ray ( against Deirdre ' s wishes ) . They then started looking for work and their first port of call was the Jet Girl modelling agency , run by David Law and Angie Dean . The girls paid half the £40 fee up - front but they found the studio lot empty later that day , and realised they ' d been conned . After this , they became agents for the Weatherfield Heating Bureau , phoning people up canvassing sales . Tricia used the phone to make a date with Pete Dawson , but her hopes of passion were scuppered when he brought Brian Jones along on their date and left Tricia with him . This job was also short - lived . In December , Tricia spread malicious rumours that Ray had another woman - referring to Pauline Jarvis , a customer at the building firm - resulting in Deirdre giving Tricia a black eye when she found out there nothing between Ray and Pauline . Around the same time , Tricia played Cinderella in the Community Centre Christmas play , and while she was touted as a rising star in the local newspaper , nothing came of it . She also showed talent at an art class at the centre a few weeks later . In January 1976 , Blanche Hunt moved to Kenilworth with Dave Smith , and the girls took over the running of the Corner Shop , overseen by Betty Turpin . Tricia found the shop hard work and went against Betty ' s wishes by giving out credit to men she fancied . When Elsie Howard returned to the Street , Betty let her live in the shop accommodation , which the girls were using following Blanche ' s departure . Elsie soon got a job as manager of Sylvia ' s Separates , while the girls went for the position of assistant . Elsie preferred Tricia for the job but Gail won it on a coin toss . Tricia wasn ' t alone at the shop for long . Gordon was still hoping to sell the shop and in May , Renee Bradshaw took an interest . Betty let her work behind the counter to get a feel for the place , and she decided to buy it . Tricia disliked Renee right away as Renee was a hard grafter and told Tricia off for being cold to rude and impatient customers . After a few weeks , Renee realised there wasn ' t enough work for two and gave Tricia notice . Renee expected to keep Tricia and Gail on in the flat but a condition of her bank loan was that the flat was empty and so the girls were told to find other lodgings quickly . Tricia was daunted by the task of finding a job and flat and after a row with Renee over her skiving - with Tricia accusing Renee of getting at her because she needed a man - Tricia said goodbye to Gail and left the Street to return to her family . Background information . Tricia first appeared in a two - episode guest spot in September 1973 . She was played by Kathy Jones , who had previously appeared as an extra in several episodes . Ten months later , in July 1974 , Tricia and mother Vera made a return to the programme , accompanied by father Idris Hopkins and Megan " Granny " Hopkins . The Hopkins family were intended as a vehicle for Tricia but they did not prove popular and were dropped early in 1975 . Tricia alone was kept on . In the same month as Tricia ' s return , Helen Worth joined the cast as Gail Potter . Worth had previously auditioned to play Tricia before winning the role of Gail , who was created so that Tricia would have someone her own age to share scenes with . Gail ' s role grew over time , and in February 1975 she and Tricia moved into the Corner Shop flat together . About this pairing , archivist Daran Little comments : " Putting Tricia and Gail into the Corner Shop flat finds its roots in " " , which was very very successful at the time . Two single girls living together having adventures , and that ' s exactly what Tricia and Gail did . " Jones : " They had lots of fun , they were hoping for lots of boyfriends which they never got . " ( Both quotes from " The Corrie Years " Series 2 Episode 4 , " The Kids " ) Tricia last appeared in June 1976 . She was axed by new producer Bill Podmore , who wanted a more mature character in the Corner Shop , which Tricia and Gail were running when he arrived in the role . In his 1990 memoirs of his work on the " Street " entitled " Coronation Street : The Inside Story " , Podmore said of the decision to write out the character : " Youngsters have always played an important role in the Street ' s life , but without a more mature shop staff , the nitty gritty of conversation and tittle - tattle were never going to bounce around its walls . . . Lovely as she was , Tricia didn ' t appear to me to be a natural Street character , and at a rather tearful meeting I broke the news to Kathy that she was to be written out of the show . " Episode 1520 ( 11th August 1975 ) establishes that Gail and Tricia are a month apart in age and although Tricia ' s age is consistent throughout her time in the programme , Gail was later aged down a year . Quotes . " Lindsay , come on " ( First line ) " You see , Ratty Renee ' s always going on about decorating the place . Ta ra . " ( Final line )