Episode 1 ( 9th December 1960 ) Plot . At the Corner Shop at the end of Coronation Street , former barmaid and new owner Florrie Lindley takes over from Elsie Lappin who is retiring but staying on a short while to show her the ropes . Elsie advises her to allow some customers tick but not the Tanners from No . 11 . In that house , Elsie Tanner confronts her son , Dennis , about 2 / - missing from her purse . Dennis has been struggling to get a job since getting out of prison but Elsie accuses him of not trying hard enough . She wishes they were more like the respectable Barlow family at No . 3 . At that house however , student son Ken is in conflict with his postman father Frank who thinks he ' s being a snob about their working class habits . Ida is interested in a girl he ' s meeting but Frank objects to his plan to take her to the Imperial Hotel where Ida works in the kitchens . Second son David comes home from his work as an engineering apprentice and learns about the row . Ken takes refuge in the pub on the corner , the Rovers Return Inn , where he gives Dennis a packet of cigarettes when landlady Annie Walker refuses him credit . Elsie ' s tempestuous married daughter Linda Cheveski is visiting for a week from Warrington . She tells her mother she was the one who borrowed the 2 / - from her purse . Elsie realises Linda has left her Polish husband Ivan after another row . Elsie promises to look for a job for her but is dubious that the split is permanent . Florrie serves her most difficult customer - Ena Sharples , the outspoken and fearsome caretaker of the Glad Tidings Mission Hall which sits on the other side of the street . Frank helps David fix the flat tyre of his bicycle on the living room carpet while Ken is next door at No . 1 chatting to pensioner Albert Tatlock . He tells Albert that his friend , Susan Cunningham , will be on her way to the hotel by now and it ' s too late to change his plan . He tells Albert that he doesn ' t want Susan to see where he comes from . Albert accuses him of becoming a snob . They are interrupted by Ida who tells them that Susan has turned up unannounced at their house . Susan is a down - to - earth girl who gets on well with Frank and David . Ken walks in and finds her waiting for him in the very place he didn ' t want her to see . Notes . Releases . This episode was included on the following commercial releases : Notable dialogue . Elsie Lappin : " Now the next thing you ' ve got to do is to get a signwriter in - that thing above the door ' ll have to be changed . " ( First line spoken in series ) Elsie Tanner : ( looking in mirror ) " Ee , Elsie , you ' re just about ready for the knacker yard . " Elsie Tanner : " Well , they ' re nothin ' all that marvellous , yer know . " Linda Cheveski : " What ? " Elsie Tanner : " Well , yer legs . I ' m afraid you ' ve got the Tanner side of the family to thank for that . Yer know , without a word of a lie , yer grandma Tanner were that bandy she couldn ' t have stopped a pig in an entry . " Ena Sharples : " What ' s your place of worship ? " Florrie Lindley : " I don ' t really do much about it . " Ena Sharples : " Oh , I know , C of E . " Florrie Lindley : " Oh I wouldn ' t say I was anythin ' really . . . " Ena Sharples : ( interrupting ) " Oh , it ' s like me sister ' s husband . You know he were made head of the plumbing where they live and it give her ideas . She said , " We ' re civic dignitaries now , we must head for t ' church " . Within a week they were received , christened and confirmed and within a fortnight she was sitting up all night sewing surplices . I ' ll tek a packet o ' baking powder . "