Betty Williams Elizabeth " Betty " Williams ( née Preston , previously Turpin ) was a long - serving barmaid at the Rovers Return Inn in Coronation Street . Prior to her marriage to policeman Cyril Turpin , Betty had an affair with soldier Ted Farrell and fell pregnant without Ted ' s knowledge . She gave birth to a son , Gordon , who was brought up by his aunt and uncle , Maggie and Les Clegg . Gordon did not learn the truth about his parentage until 1975 . Betty arrived in Coronation Street in June 1969 to help her sister Maggie run the Corner Shop . A short time later , she was hired as a barmaid at the Rovers and became a fixture in the Street along with her husband Cyril . At the Rovers , Betty and Bet Lynch worked under the rule of snobbish Annie Walker . Despite Annie ' s highly - strung ways , she was good friends with Betty and referred to her as " Elizabeth " to distinguish her from Bet . In 1974 , Betty was left alone : Cyril died of a heart attack , and Maggie moved to Zaire to start a new life with second husband Ron Cooke . In 1995 , Betty encountered old flame Billy Williams and , rekindling their relationship , they married later that year . Billy died in 1997 . While landlords , staff and patrons have come and gone , Betty was as much a constant as her famous hotpot . Biography . 1920 - 1969 : Early life . Betty Preston was born at 6 Tile Street , Weatherfield on 4th February 1920 . Betty started work in a mill after leaving Clackers Lane Elementary and Senior Schools . During the Second World War , she worked in a munitions factory , before spending some years working as a school meals assistant . In 1950 , Betty fell pregnant after a year - long affair with soldier Ted Farrell . Betty had met Ted during the war and they ' d written to each other regularly until he was taken prisoner . After the war , he ' d returned to his native Portsmouth but taken a job in Manchester , upon which he and Betty started seeing each other . On learning she was pregnant , Betty told Ted but he then admitted he had a wife and child in Portsmouth . He offered to divorce his wife for Betty , but when he returned home to sort out his affairs , Betty knew she ' d never see him again . As she was unmarried , Betty decided to give the newborn son - whom she named Gordon - to her sister Maggie and her husband Les . The Cleggs raised Gordon , who never found out the truth about his parentage until 1975 when his birth certificate was discovered . 1969 - 1974 : Moving into Coronation Street . Maggie and Les had bought the Corner Shop in 1968 . Betty followed them in June 1969 , offering to help Maggie run the shop . She moved into the shop flat with her husband Cyril . Maggie greatly resented her bossy older sister trying to run her life and she quickly took advantage of Annie ' s holiday in Majorca ( as winner of the perfect Landlady competition ) by persuading Jack Walker to give Betty a job at the Rovers . Upon Annie ' s return , there was friction between no - nonsense Betty and Annie with her airs - and - graces . By Christmas 1969 , Betty ended up sacked . She immediately got a job at The Flying Horse , and only returned to the Rovers after wringing an apology out of Annie . In May 1970 , Cyril returned home to the flat to find Betty being terrorised by ex - convict Keith Lucas ( Cyril was his arresting officer ) , and furious at this , attacked Lucas with an iron bar , narrowly avoiding killing him . Cyril was hauled before a disciplinary committee , and the next month he was retired from the force on a full pension . He and Betty moved into 37 Hillside Crescent . 1974 - 1977 : Family trouble . 1974 was a bad year for Betty . In February , Cyril died of a heart attack , leaving Betty devastated . In July , her sister Maggie married Ron Cooke and emigrated to Zaire . Gordon came back from his accountancy job in London to look after the shop and stayed with Betty . However , Betty ordered him back to London after finding him with his trousers round his ankles with a local girl . The shop was rented out to the newly - arrived Hopkins family . In December , Megan Hopkins was moving some furniture in the flat when she came across Gordon ' s birth certificate . He was born " Gordon Preston " , and his mother was " Elizabeth Preston " , his father unknown . After probing Minnie Caldwell about former residents in the area , Megan found that Elizabeth Preston was now Betty Turpin . When Maggie and Betty found out , they decided to tell Gordon the dark secret . In February 1975 , Megan Hopkins tried to blackmail Gordon with the information , in an attempt to buy the shop at a reduced price , but the attempt failed and the Hopkins fled the shop and Coronation Street in the dead of night . Things picked up for Betty in 1975 : she won Newton & Ridley ' s ' Personality of the Pub ' competition in March . Later in the year , a drunken Gordon revealed the secret about his parentage , embarrassing Betty . She was left unable to face the pub ' s regulars for some time . 1977 - 1984 : Annie , Bet , Betty and Fred . In August 1977 , Betty stormed out of The Rovers when Annie accused her of stealing £45 , and suggested she consult a psychiatrist about her ' problem ' . Betty was on the verge of taking the case to court when she was finally persuaded to return to the pub . Apart from being proposed to by newly recruited potman Fred Gee ( whom she turned down immediately ) , Betty then had a quiet few years serving in the Rovers - and so began a period of Annie ruling supreme over the tight Rovers staff unit : Bet , Betty and Fred . Also in this period , Betty began producing the now - famous hotpot as part of the Rovers food menu , which became a hit with the regulars . In January 1982 , Gordon returned to show his mother his fiancée Caroline Wilson , but upset his mother by marrying without inviting her to the wedding . In May 1982 , Betty was mugged by Raymond Attwood from Ken Barlow ' s Community Centre Youth Club , and ended up in hospital with a broken arm . Ted Farrell , Betty ' s old wartime flame , saw a newspaper article about the mugging and decided to pay her a visit . As far as Ted was concerned , they had been close , but when he moved down to Portsmouth and married a local girl that was the end of their friendship . What Ted didn ' t know was that after Betty said goodbye to him in 1947 at London Road Station in Manchester , she found she was pregnant with Gordon . Betty felt it better not to stir up the past upon Ted ' s visit , and they both parted with him thinking they were always " just sweethearts " . In May 1983 , Betty acted as Bet ' s chaperone when they went out for a day with Fred Gee - and ended up paddling in the lake at Tatton Park as Fred ' s Rover 2000 ( bought from Annie Walker ) ended up in the lake . The Rovers staff finally arrived back late to find the pub in chaos , with Vera Duckworth helping out behind the bar . 1985 - 1995 : Veteran barmaid . 1985 dawned with a new boss for Betty , Bet Lynch , following Annie ' s retirement the year before . The following year Betty spent a few months in London with Gordon , Caroline and grandson Peter while The Rovers was being refurbished after a fire . In January 1989 , Bet ' s husband Alec Gilroy employed retired ventriloquist Charlie Bracewell as barman . However , after he interfered with Betty , he was quickly palmed off onto Stella Rigby at the White Swan . More heartache occurred for Betty in 1992 when the Rovers was forced to stop selling food : its kitchen didn ' t meet food and hygiene standards . Over the years , the pub had become famous for Betty ' s hotpot , and latterly Betty had worked more in the kitchen than behind the bar . She was effectively redundant , and left the Rovers in tears . However , the Gilroys reluctantly agreed to refurbish the kitchen , and Betty returned . In 1993 , she developed a good friendship with Maud Grimes ; both ladies were of similar age and upbringing and regularly holidayed together . Betty was away visiting Gordon when Maud left the street . In 1994 , Alf Roberts again became mayor of Weatherfield and as his wife Audrey was reluctant to take part in civic duties , asked Betty to be his mayoress . Betty was flattered and agreed - following in the footsteps of Annie Walker , who was Alf ' s mayoress in 1973 . 1995 - 1997 : Marriage to Billy . On 8th May 1995 , 50 years to the day , two old soldiers returned to the pub they celebrated VE Night in - the Rovers Return . Betty was surprised to see one of them was an old flame - Billy Williams . A few days later , Billy invited Betty to a tea dance and confessed that he had often thought about her over the years and that he had often written to her too . Betty told Billy that she too had written to him but neither of them received each other ' s letters . Billy also revealed that in one letter he had proposed marriage . Betty turned down Billy ' s proposal , together with an offer to go on holiday together , but called on Billy when she was burgled in September 1995 . Billy stayed the night , and arranged for a burglar alarm to be fitted , and then proposed marriage again , which Betty refused . However , next month she relented , and later in October they were married . At the end of October , Jack and Vera Duckworth became the new owners of the Rovers , and when she returned from honeymoon , Betty was very surprised to find out who her new bosses were . It only took a few days for Betty to walk out of the Rovers yet again - this time because Vera asked her to become a cleaner as well as barmaid and cook the hotpots . Vera started her own hotpot , but soon had to turn to butcher Fred Elliott for supplies . Vera had to apologise before Betty considered returning to the Rovers . In December , Alf and Audrey Roberts travelled down to Buckingham Palace for Alf ' s OBE . Audrey had a blazing row with taxi driver Don Brennan , resulting in Audrey being left at a motorway service station , and Alf travelling on alone . As he was being driven down the Mall , who should Alf see but Betty - who just happened to be down in London for the day , and so Alf was accompanied by his former mayoress when he received his OBE - much to Audrey ' s annoyance . In 1997 , Billy died , leaving Betty heartbroken . 1997 - 2012 : Later years and death . In 1999 , Betty celebrated her 30th anniversary at the Rovers Return with a party , attended by all the regulars . Betty considered retirement in 2002 , and decided to move to Wimbledon to be with Gordon and his wife Caroline . However , Betty spent most of the time left alone at home , and she felt resented by Caroline . This was exacerbated when Caroline gave Betty a brochure for an old people ' s home . Betty visited Weatherfield and discussed her fears with Blanche Hunt , who told her that she ' d be better off looking after number one than pleasing others . Betty agreed , and the regulars welcomed her back to the Rovers . In 2009 , while Rovers manageress Liz McDonald was in Spain , fellow barmaid Poppy Morales saw herself as being in charge . She disliked Betty working a certain amount of hours and for doing only what she felt like doing . Poppy attempted to fire Betty but was unsuccessful - owner Steve McDonald saw Betty ' s service as more invaluable , and Poppy was sacked instead . There was a double celebration for Betty in 2010 - her 90th birthday and being hailed by " The Weatherfield Gazette " as the oldest barmaid in the north west of England . In 2012 , Betty had fallen ill . When her son Gordon came up to visit her , Betty had passed away peacefully in her sleep . He later went to tell her friends at the Rovers about her passing . Her portrait was placed on the wall of the Rovers by landlady Stella Price , allowing the residents to reminisce and for her memory to remain a constant presence . Quotes . " So this is your famous corner shop . " ( First line , to Maggie Clegg ) " The things that have gone on in this pub ! If only walls could talk . " ( About the Rovers ) " Push your luck with me love , you ' ll might not live to be 92 ! " ( To Enid Crump , who claimed to be the oldest barmaid in Weatherfield ) " And where are you goin ' an ' all ? " ( Final line , to David and Kylie Platt )