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Maurice Allen was Newton & Ridley's in-house decorator who along with Gary Hankins was engaged by Annie Walker to re-decorate the Rovers in 1977. The landlady pressed them into starting the work early so that the outside of the pub would be refurbished in time for the Silver Jubilee but wasn't impressed with their lax attitude to work - when they took a coffee break after only 15 minutes, Annie told them off, only for Maurice to retort that they were now entitled to a longer break to make up the time Annie had spent telling them off!

Maurice and Gary returned a few weeks later to do the Rovers interior. This time Annie was absent as she'd taken time off to visit her daughter Joan, so the decorators mostly worked unsupervised. More interested in earning money by moonlighting, Maurice took work with Ernie Bishop and neglected his day job to decorate No.3. In doing so, Maurice made an enemy of Ray Langton, who'd given Ernie an estimate for the job and, angry at Maurice for pinching his trade, reported him to the brewery for moonlighting. Maurice and Gary were sacked. Maurice knew that Ray was behind it and tracked him down to the builder's yard but was stopped from going for him by Len Fairclough. Fortunately for the decorators, the brewery draymen went on strike in sympathy and after a few days they were reinstated, and returned to the Rovers to finish the job.

Peter Armitage played Maurice Allen, seven years before he first appeared as Bill Webster. The character was credited as "Maurice", with his surname given in dialogue.

List of appearances[]

1977[]

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