Visitors from as far afield as Somerset and Falkirk descended on Salford with their dogs for a special Coronation Street event celebrating National Pet Day.
On Sunday, Media City welcomed more than 200 dogs and their owners as fans of the world’s longest-running soap took the chance to pose for photos on its real, working set.
Crowds wandered the streets of Weatherfield a day after National Pet Day on Saturday, 11 April, as the Coronation Street Experience welcomed pooches from far and wide as part of a fundraising drive for Dogs Trust.
Open to the public on weekends since 2015, the ‘Coronation Street Experience’ has had hundreds of thousands of visitors over the years but had never before seen this many with paws.
Owners made the most of the Salford sunshine, snapping photos of their dogs outside the pub, encouraging them to emulate Rover, the show’s most famous furry resident, and treating them to puppuccinos.
Special ‘Weatherfield Woof’ limited edition merchandise was available in the Experience shop including dog bowls, branded treats and dog bandanas, and all proceeds from every dog ticket was donated to Dogs Trust, the UK’s largest dog welfare charity.
Owner, Susan Rogers, said: “We had a great time and Boris was very proud to be back on the cobbles! Obviously, he had a head start, having won Pup Idol and been filmed for an episode, and as he met all his new furry friends on the day, I have no doubt he was putting them straight about what it was like to be an actual ‘Star of the show’!”
Based in Media City, the Coronation Street experience attracts over 100,000 fans to Salford each year. It is open on weekends and bank holidays and offers opportunities to meet cast members on special star tours.
On Sunday, 12 April, they invited people from far and wide to bring their dogs down to the set in support of Dogs Trust, a charity which cares for over 11,000 dogs every year across its network of 21 rehoming centres in the UK and one in Dublin.
Dogs Trust have anon-destruction policy and will never put a healthy dog to sleep. The charity also focuses its efforts on understanding dogs and sharing that knowledge with the wider public to prevent problem behaviours that can result in relinquishment or abandonment.
More information about the charity is available via the Dogs Trust website.
