Top 50 Coronation Street Characters

28. Alf Roberts

Ranked at 28 – receiving 7 votes – is everyone’s favourite grocer – Alf Roberts. Part of the cobbles for over thirty years, Alf was known for his white grocer coat and trilby hat and for his eighteen year tenure behind the corner shop counter. He lost first wife Phyllis to cancer in 1972 and soon found himself falling for corner shop owner Maggie Clegg. She rejected his proposal and married Ron Cooke and immigrated to Zaire. In 1978, he married Maggie’s successor – Renee Bradshaw. They were married for two years, until Renee was killed in a car/lorry collision. Alf married floozy Audrey Potter in 1985, producing the most successful partnerships in the soap’s history. As well as a shopkeeper, Alf was involved in local politics – serving as mayor in 1973 and 1994 and was a long serving and well respected councillor. By the mid nineties, Alf’s health deteriorated and he died of a stroke on New Year’s Eve 1998 in stepdaughter Gail’s house. In memory of him, the council wanted to erect a fountain, but the street’s OAPs (led by Emily Bishop) opposed.

Should Alf be at 28? Or should she be lower down at 47 like in Corrieblog's poll? Leave comments!