Rowdy Les Smith was one of the builders who worked on Maurice Jones's development of new houses and shops in Coronation Street in 1989. Like his mate Eddie Ramsden, Les fancied Rovers barmaid Tina Fowler and tried to chat her up whenever she walked past the site. Tina enjoyed the attention from the lads but pretended not to be interested and rebuffed all of their attempts to flirt with her.
While working in the street, the builders drank at the Rovers, bringing the noise levels well above what the residents were used to. When Eddie was thrown out after heckling Tina, Eddie blamed Kevin Webster who had come to Tina's defence and started a fight with him the next time he went into the Rovers, with Les and another builder as backup. In the resulting fracas, Les held back Phyllis Pearce from going at Eddie with her handbag and thumped Curly Watts in the eye, before running off when Alec Gilroy went to phone the police.
Les later took part in a friendly 5-a-side between the builders and the Rovers regulars, called by Maurice Jones as a way to call a truce. The match was won by the Rovers team.
A few weeks later, with Eddie now dating Tina, Les passed on a message that Eddie wouldn't be able to make a date as he'd rushed off home when his mother called. Tina later discovered that he had a son, Jamie, that he didn't want to tell her about as he feared she'd lose interest in him.