Popping down the Rovers for a quick half will no longer be the exclusive preserve of the residents of Coronation Street if ITV pulls off a plan to put a themed lookalike Rovers Return in every high street.

The idea is to cash in on the soap opera’s popularity in the way that Disney has developed from movie-making to a global theme park chain, and licensed Cheers bars have cropped up all over the world.

Gone would be the last refuge of the long-suffering Coronation Street spouse who regards the ponderous brass theme music as the cue to nip down the local for a Corrie-free half hour.

ITV wants to work with a pub owner in what would amount to a takeover of Newton & Ridley, the fictional brewer that has supplied the Rovers Return for the 48 years that Coronation Street has been on the air.

However, it is less clear that partners will want to reproduce the pub’s menu, best known for Betty’s hotpot, a lamb, potato and onion combination cooked in stock and fat, and whose Northern simplicity is unlikely to appeal to contemporary metropolitan bar-goers’ tastes.

Peter Eyles, chief executive of Cross Oak Inns, a Home Counties-based pub operator, said he would be “absolutely delighted” to become involved, as the company was actively looking at ways of expanding.

“It sounds a great idea, although we put a big emphasis on the quality of our food, so we’d have to do something about Betty's hotpot.”

The broadcaster could also sweeten the deal by allowing its pub partner — if it owned its own brewery — to promote its beer in the soap if, as expected, the Government relaxes a ban preventing the placement of products in television programmes.

That alone would be worth an estimated £1 million a year.

Coronation Street is the most popular programme on British television, with its five weekly episodes, two on Monday and Friday and one on Wednesday, attracting up to 11 million viewers. The saga of Weatherfield attracts nearly half of all television viewers whenever it airs, and generates a tenth of all viewing on ITV.

Yet, despite the on-screen success, ITV executives believe the commercial potential of Coronation Street is under-exploited. Dawn Airey, ITV’s managing director, global content, said: “We are absolutely looking to exploit all our brands in a far more commercial and efficient way. A huge amount of value lies in big ITV brands like Coronation Street and finding more creative and imaginative ways of exploiting those brands.” She is also believed to be looking at marketing a range of cookware for Hell’s Kitchen and believes that ITV’s other Northern soap, Emmerdale, also has merchandising possibilities.

ITV is also considering reviving tours of the Coronation Street set in Manchester. At one time the Granada Studios Tour was one of the most popular leisure activities in the North, attracting 5.25 million visitors in its first year. It was shut at the beginning of the decade, but ITV believes it could revive the tour if it teamed up with an experienced leisure operator, such as Madame Tussauds.

The commercial broadcaster, headed by Michael Grade, is searching for new forms of revenue to restore growth. An economic slowdown coupled with the growth of the internet is depressing television advertising, while viewing figures are dropping as people desert traditional channels for digital services. As a result ITV is under pressure to show its shareholders that it has a healthy future.

Unfortunately for ITV, which has not got very far with developing its ideas, the chief executive of JD Wetherspoon, John Hutson, said that he was not sure that the pub chain needed the Rovers Return name. But he added: “If we ever changed our minds and wanted a partner, what better than the world-famous Rovers Return? As long as we didn't have to employ Bet Lynch behind the bar.”

On the Street

— Coronation Street has run continuously since Dec 9, 1960 Viewing figures range from 9.5 to 11 million

— Playing five times a week, Monday at 7.30pm is the most popular

— Ken Barlow (William Roache) is the only character to have been in the soap since episode one

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