Brendan Franklin Scott was Area Manager of Bettabuy and, from July to August 1993, owner of the Corner Shop.
Before being promoted to Head Office, Brendan managed Bettabuy's Wakefield branch. He first crossed paths with Reg Holdsworth in 1982 when Reg investigated a charge of dishonesty against him. Brendan was suspended but was then reinstated and continued working his way to the top of the Bettabuy empire, reaching the position of Area Manager by the early 1990s. Now Reg's superior, Brendan continued to hold a grudge against him.
In 1991, Brendan investigated a claim made by recently-sacked Vera Duckworth that Reg had rigged a trolley dash prize draw so that Rita Fairclough would win. Brendan relished the chance to get even with Reg and, on questioning the persons involved, described his inquiry as "a complex study of deceit and betrayal" that made AJP Taylor's The Origins of the Second World War look simple. Brendan deemed Reg "guilty as sin" and suspected a cover-up involving Vera and Assistant Manager Curly Watts, on discovering that Vera was Curly's landlady. However he didn't have any real evidence against Reg other than the fact that he improperly carried out the draw himself, and when Vera withdrew her allegation, Brendan admitted defeat.
A few weeks later, Brendan was a judge at the North West Beauty Show in Buxton, at which Raquel Wolstenhulme was a candidate in her role of Miss Bettabuy Weatherfield. Brendan tried to chat Raquel up before the competition but didn't pick her as a winner, citing political reasons. After the contest, Brendan went to Raquel's room with a bottle of champagne, intending to "comfort" her, but ran into a half-naked Curly Watts at the doorway. Brendan insinuated that he would cause trouble for Curly with Head Office for abusing his position, but when Curly pointed out that him calling at Raquel's room with champagne and two glasses would be just as hard to explain to his superiors, Brendan left Curly to cheer Raquel up, remarking that he hoped he was man enough for the job. Brendan got revenge on Curly in September that year by reprimanding him for making an unauthorised payment to Angie Freeman for designing the Bettabuy WARTS float in the Weatherfield Carnival, causing Curly to lose out on a promotion to Manager of Bettabuy to Miles Platting.
In March 1992, Brendan called on Reg to tell him he'd be training Vanessa Morgan in management but neglected to tell him that Vanessa was the daughter of Lord Walter Morgan, Chairman of Bettabuy. Reg assumed Vanessa to be a spy for Brendan and dumped her on Curly. Brendan had another encounter with Curly at the Bettabuy dance in August, where he encouraged his relationship with Kimberley Taylor.
The following May, Brendan saw Reg about redundancies and told him that one of the Bettabuy managers had to go. Reg wanted redundancy but knew that if Brendan was aware of this, he would make sure he didn't get it and so he pretended otherwise and grovelled to him. Reg eventually let slip to Brendan about his plan to buy "Alf's Mini Market" on Coronation Street once he finished at Bettabuy and Brendan thought it such a good business idea that he stole the idea for himself and reached a deal with Alf Roberts first.
Brendan saw the shop as the first of a chain, naming it "Best Buys", insisting on formality between himself and assistant Deirdre Barlow and making plans on changing the shop's stock. Brendan was an old-fashioned sort and his plans for the shop reflected this; wearing a boater and overall, Brendan changed the name again to "Scott's Provisions" and transformed it into an old-fashioned grocery. He had only just got started at the job when he got into an argument with Jack Duckworth over his debt with Alf which Brendan bought for less than he was asking from Jack, and Jack refused to pay up. Brendan decided to go all-out for the customers and hired Nicky Platt as a delivery boy, giving him his old cast-iron bike to ride on, but Nicky found it hard work and the bike too heavy. When he complained, Brendan immediately dismissed him and then took on the job himself while he found a replacement. However, managing the shop and the deliveries was too much for Brendan and during an argument with Ken Barlow, he had a heart attack and collapsed in the shop. Emily Bishop and Martin Platt tried to revive him but paramedics declared him dead.
Brendan was survived by his wife, Debi.
List of appearances[]
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1991 |
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1992 |
1993