Dolly Fairbrother was a shy, quietly-spoken pensioner who was introduced to Ena Sharples in the snug of the Rovers by Minnie Caldwell in 1975. The residents were in a battle with Weatherfield council over a sharp increase in their rates and a meeting had been organised by WARP (the Weatherfield Association of Rent Payers) in the Community Centre for the evening of 26th May. The meeting was run by Ernest Bishop and Harry Goulden. Len Fairclough, who had already crossed their paths, had refused to attend and it was Alf Roberts who took most of the flak from the audience. His counter-arguments were cohesive and somewhat persuasive however Ena bullied Dolly into standing up and saying her piece. She told the audience that she was a part-time waitress at council receptions and passed round a menu which outlined the expensive foods and posh wines offered. The furious audience easily reacted to the call for a rates strike which followed her story.
In June the following year, she spoke to Alf in the snug of the Rovers where she expressed her fears that her house in Mawdsley Street, where she had lived all her life, was being pulled down. She gained this mistaken news from a comment made by the area's MP, Geoffrey Hardcastle, about slum clearances but Alf tried to assure her that it was just politician's talk. He agreed to tell Mr Hardcastle that Dolly would be happy to stay where she was and she gave him the price of a stamp, thinking that he would be sending a letter to the Houses of Parliament, but he gave her the money back, telling her that it was on him.