Alma Halliwell Alma Marie Halliwell ( previously Sedgewick and Baldwin ) was the owner of Jim ' s Cafe in Rosamund Street and the long - suffering wife of Mike Baldwin from 1992 to 1999 . Alma ' s first husband was Jim Sedgewick and she got the café in the divorce settlement in 1982 , but it wasn ' t until 1989 that a cash - strapped Alma started working there full - time with co - owner Gail Tilsley . Alma was hardworking and a loyal friend but she was led by her heart and in 1989 she set her sights on factory owner Mike Baldwin . They had a relationship but it wasn ' t until 1992 that they walked down the aisle , Alma putting aside her doubts about Mike ' s trustworthiness . During the marriage , Alma had frequent disagreements with Mike over his underhanded business tactics . Mike would sometimes try to appease Alma but the marriage was often a battle of wits , with Alma trying to get one over on Mike after he dismissed her opinion . Keen to prove she was just as capable as Mike , Alma started her own catering business and sold her share of the café to Roy Cropper in 1996 , putting the money into Mike ' s new factory which he opened after selling his garage to Don Brennan at an inflated price . When Don ' s life then spiralled out of control , he blamed Mike and in 1997 kidnapped Alma in his taxi and drove into the River Irwell . Both survived . Alma then moved onto pastures new , getting a job at Freshco supermarket and divorcing Mike after finding out about his affair with Julia Stone . She died in 2001 from cervical cancer aged 55 , which was already in its final stages when she found out about it . Her friends in the Street were Gail , Audrey Roberts , Hayley Cropper and Ken Barlow . Biography . Alma Halliwell married café owner Jim Sedgewick in 1976 . The marriage was a disaster , and when Alma fell pregnant , she had an abortion rather than bring a child into a loveless home . Alma made her " Coronation Street " debut in 1981 , and when her marriage finally folded in 1982 , Alma got Jim ' s Cafe in Rosamund Street in the divorce settlement . Jim ran off with a florist and Alma went to Florida with pools winner Philip . Unable to deal with his new fortune , Philip squandered money on sex , drugs , booze , and bad investments . In 1988 , Alma argued with Gail Tilsley over a sandwich round that Gail had started with Gina Seddon . Alma wanted the round to stop , stating that Gail should be concentrating on the cafe but Gail threatened to resign unless Alma allowed the sandwich round to continue and wanted a share of the profits . Alma finally caved in and agreed . By 1989 Alma was broke , and returned to Weatherfield to run the café , selling Gail Tilsley a 40 % share for £9 , 000 . She fell for Mike Baldwin immediately , and tried to seduce him with oysters . This however backfired , as they made her ill and she ended up rushing backwards and forwards to the bathroom . She eventually managed to seduce Mike after beating him in a game of golf but he dumped her for Dawn Prescott . Alma took up briefly with married man Terry Conway , before returning to Mike as his live - in lover in his luxury dockland apartment . Mike had sold his factory and was looking around for a new investment , but a dodgy Spanish land deal went sour and Mike lost his money . Returning to the rag trade , Mike operated a sweatshop in the café flat , until it was closed down by Health and Safety Officials for noise pollution . He then took up work as a salesman at Ingram ' s Textiles - and after the death of boss Peter Ingram , took up with his wife Jackie . After fretting over which woman to remain with , he dumped Alma in December 1990 . A distraught Alma spent time with best friend Audrey Roberts to recover , then got revenge by vandalising Jackie ' s bedroom . Mike still had feelings for Alma , and even felt some responsibility and contributed to the rent of Jim ' s cafe without Alma ' s knowledge . These payments caused the destruction Mike ' s relationship with Jackie . Two weeks after they were married in July 1991 , she learnt about the money and initiated divorce proceedings . Meanwhile , Alma had taken up with reliable Ken Barlow after meeting him at a Spanish night class . He planned to take her to a hotel for New Year ' s Eve but Alma was still drawn to Mike . She spent Christmas Day with him , and when she confessed to Ken at the hotel , he dumped her and left . Mike pursued her again , and they were married in June 1992 . Alma settled down to work at the café with Gail and an assortment of helpers like Audrey , Martin Platt , Phyllis Pearce , and later , Roy Cropper . She also rented the flat above the café to many Street residents including Angie Freeman , Fiona Middleton , Steve McDonald , Maxine Heavey , and the notorious Tanya Pooley . Alma ' s marriage was not perfect . In particular , she was well aware of Mike ' s arrogant and underhand treatment of people , and often found herself apologising for his behaviour . She sympathized with Ken , Jim McDonald , and even Don Brennan ( before he tried to kill her . ) Mike also had a habit of patronizing his wife and making decisions , overriding her opinion . In March 1995 , Alma received a letter informing her that Jim Sedgewick had died three months before and she inherited £2 , 000 - Mike was put out when Alma splashed out on a convertible MG . The same year , she got a job catering for the Wheatsheaf pub , Mike ' s chauvinistic dismissal of her talents compelled her to develop the sideline into ABC Catering ( Alma Baldwin Catering ) . Alma was also only too aware of Mike ' s roving eye and acted jealously when Mike stepped in to help long - time friend Deirdre Rachid , and when he employed Liz McDonald . In January 1996 , misfortune visited the Baldwins when Audrey Roberts ' s son , Stephen Reid , arrived from Canada as a representative of Kbec clothing . He was looking for an English manufacturing base and asked Alma to provide catering for a business presentation . Alma was attracted to Stephen and later made a pass at him , which was embarrassingly rebuffed . Later , she was incensed when she told Mike and he told her he wasn ' t worried . Mike won the contract to make clothing and re - established a factory , selling his garage to Don Brennan at an inflated price . Don went bankrupt and his girlfriend Josie Clarke left him . He nursed a grievance against Mike that intensified when he was done for drink driving when about to pick Mike up in his taxi . Don ' s hatred was to threaten Alma ' s life . He attempted suicide and left a threatening message on the factory answer machine . When Stephen heard about what had happened , he cancelled the contract with Mike , who blamed Alma . Stephen later taunted Alma with her feelings , and accused her of secretly enjoying it when he ruined Mike , Alma dismissed him and was fully reconciled with her husband . The affair caused ructions in her friendships . Audrey wouldn ' t hear a word against her son and accused her of being angry because Stephen had rejected her . Mike needed capital to continue with the factory , and when Alma offered to sell her share of the café , Gail felt that she was left high and dry . When Stephen accused her of trying to wreck Gail ' s business to get to him , she slapped him . Alma was set to sell to pizza chain Pizza Heaven , and dismissed an offer by Roy Cropper , believing him mentally incompetent but relented when Gail pleaded with her and Roy bought her share for £35 , 000 . Alma and Gail were friends again . Mike continued making and selling counterfeit Kbec gear , until Don burned the factory down and shopped him for arson and insurance fraud . Initially , even Alma doubted his innocence but lack of proof meant Mike was never charged . Don looked at other means of revenge and chose Alma , kidnapping her and taking her on a terror trip around Weatherfield , pouring out his complaints , before plunging into the river Irwell . Alma was lucky to escape with her life and Don was sent to a mental institution . After the stress , Alma wanted to emigrate to Florida . Mike again upset her by dismissing her dreams and embarked on a business deal with Angie Freeman to found the Underworld underwear factory . She looked around for a job and got one at Firman ' s Freezers . Once more Mike bowled in with other ideas , whisking Alma away for a holiday to Cyprus , telling Curly to forget her job . When they returned however , Alma was determined that Mike would not get the better of her . She secured a shelf - stacker ' s position at Firman ' s and was soon made Employee of the Month - her face even featured in Firman ' s promotions . However , Don was not yet finished with the Baldwins . Alma visited him in hospital and he apologized but later escaped and attacked Mike with a chair - leg at the Factory . Failing to kill him , he took Alma ' s car , ploughing into the viaduct and killed himself . At Firman ' s , Alma met assistant manager Hayley Patterson who was friendless and lacked self - confidence . Feeling sorry for her , Alma attempted to get Hayley to stand up for herself but Hayley latched onto Alma , who she considered her only friend . Deciding to set Hayley up with Curly , Alma held and improptu dinner party and invited Hayley , Curly , Audrey and Roy Cropper ( who was invited to simply make up the numbers ) . The dinner party was a disaster with Audrey getting drunk and revealing Alma ' s misjudging matchmaking . . . however Hayley found a connection with Roy , as they were both socially awkward and often lonely . Friendship blossomed , until Hayley told Roy she was a transsexual waiting for her gender reassignment operation . Roy rejected her , and Hayley confided her secret with Alma , who was caring and sympathetic and pushed Roy to start treating Hayley right . Hayley and Roy were eventually reunited shortly before she left to go abroad for her final operations . On the domestic front , Alma had to cope with an unwelcome guest . Deirdre Rachid was charged with fraud and as usual Mike had stepped in to help her , offering her a place to stay . Alma was not best pleased , especially when she was placed on suicide watch after Mike caught Deirdre staring wistfully at some pills . Deirdre was eventually convicted and sent to jail , but shortly afterwards released after new evidence of Jon Lindsay ' s criminal activities . Hayley returned to Weatherfield in June 1998 and restarted her relationship with Roy , to Alma ' s concern , but happiness . She was amazed when Hayley passed a test and got a job in Mike ' s factory . Accidentally , she told Mike that Hayley was transsexual after a social security mix - up and Mike decided to sack her , to Alma ' s horror . She pleaded and eventually scolded Mike to give her her job back and eventually he relented , but never really accepted her . When Hayley ' s secret finally did come out to the factory , Roy launched an attack on Alma for telling Mike in the first place . In February 1999 , Roy and Hayley fell out just before the Valentines Disco but Alma persuaded Roy not to give up on her and to go along . He did , and he proposed to Hayley there and then . Alma was asked to be Matron of Honour , and allowed Hayley to stay at their house the night before the wedding , in April , to Mike ' s displeasure . In May 1999 , Alma discovered that Mike had been blackmailed following an affair with Julia Stone and they separated . Alma moved in with the recently widowed Audrey . Despite some attempt to reconcile , she realised that she no longer loved him as she had done and the marriage was over . Later that summer , she heard that Mike had been seeing another woman , and was visited by Hayley , who told her it was Mike ' s mouthy machinist , Linda Sykes . Alma then divorced Mike citing unreconcilable differences . Or maybe she had just had enough of Mike ' s duplicitous nature . . . and Linda Sykes . Following her divorce , Alma changed her surname back to Halliwell . Later , she was pursued by Councillor Bob Bradshaw , but it didn ' t last , because he was eventually arrested for taking bribes . In October 2000 , Alma , along with Mike , Ken and others , was held hostage at gunpoint in the Freshco ' s siege by the man who turned to be Linda Sykes ' brother . During this time , she became friendly with retiring security guard Frank O ' Connor . They escaped unharmed and Alma and Frank became good friends . In 2001 , Alma received devastating news : a misdiagnosis , combined with a missed smear test at the hospital , meant she had developed cervical cancer that had extended to such a degree , that even if she did receive treatment it wouldn ' t do any good . In short - Alma had terminal cancer of the cervix . Alma , not wanting to die in hospital , passed away peacefully in her home on 17th June 2001 from the cancer with Mike Baldwin , Ken Barlow and Audrey Roberts at her side . 13 years after Alma ' s death cancer would claim the life of her friend Hayley in a similar fashion . Quotes . " I ' m sorry to keep you love . . . I mean you don ' t have to be an octopus to work here , but it does help ! " ( First line , to Bert Tilsley ) .