Coronation Street star journeys to Yorkshire to launch care home

HE IS more used to treading the cobbles of Coronation Street than the roads of West Yorkshire.

But yesterday actor Bill Tarmey, who plays Jack Duckworth, in the TV series, journeyed over the Pennines to open a care home.

His surroundings were perhaps not as well known, but there were some familiar feathered friends to welcome him.

In honour of his TV alter-ego’s passion for pigeons, Mr Tarmey released a flock of twelve birds to signify the home’s special day.

Berkeley Court, in Chatsworth Road, Leeds, can accommodate 78 residents. It was built by LNT Construction and is operated by sister company Ideal Care Homes, both part of the Leeds conglomerate the LNT Group, owned by Yorkshire entrepreneur Lawrence Tomlinson.

Tarmey has been a familiar face on the cobbles of Coronation Street for the past three decades. His character, Jack Duckworth, and his on-screen wife, Vera, played by Leeds-born actress Liz Dawn, were one of the country’s most enduring TV double acts and one of the most talked-about couples in soap history.

Millions of viewers tuned in to watch the pair bicker and argue on a daily basis.

In 2008 the much-loved partnership came to an end when Vera slipped away. Liz Dawn left the TV series because she was suffering from ill health.