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Roker Bridge is of course a fictional town. As such, the production team had freedom
in creating the town. They made use of locations in Lancashire, but also in the
Midlands, near to Pebble Mill in Birmingham where production was based.
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The town of Padiham near Burnley in Lancashire provided many of the key Roker Bridge locations.
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LEFT:
Mr Wang's restaurant, The Golden Dragon/Roman Holiday, is at the
top of Mill Street where it meets Church Street. It is the red painted building
building in the photograph, now unfortunately boarded up and disused. The light
blue painted building next door was the newsagents where Hodge meets
Laura in "Eric's Won Ton". Mill Street is also the setting for
the driving test centre from "Hodge's Driving Test".
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RIGHT:
The Starkie Arms, at the top of Church Street, a pub that was seen in a number
of episodes when it was renamed as The Roker Arms. The road that the car is coming
out of is Mill Street; the Golden Lion and the newsagents can just be seen. The
buildings on the right are two more pubs, The New Black Bull and The King's Arms,
which can sometimes be seen on screen using their real names.
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BELOW:
Two pictures of the bridge on Station Road, from where Eric
dropped the Yukka plant that Hodge gave him in the first series. The view on the left,
with the Church in the background, was sometimes used as a shot in the series. The white building
in the centre of the picture on the right now sells car hi-fis; it was a newsagents called Robinsons
in Series 1.
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LEFT:
Hodge tries on a dinner jacket at Roker Menswear in "Dawn's Ball" (before
rejecting it when he sees the price). This scene was filmed in Moor Lane, Clitheroe.
As he and Eric leave the shop, Lloydy and Spock pass by, test driving a Rover,
heading towards Clitheroe town centre. The menswear shop is now a
tanning salon.
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Coal Clough wind farm features in "Ally's Husband" and "Polson's Lilo";
it is on the moors to the east of Burnley. In the first of these Ally and her husband
visit it as part of a treasure hunt when they must an answer a clue that asks for the
number of turbines. The answer given in the programme (24) is actually correct.
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Darwen is a town just south of Blackburn which also served as the main location
for Hetty Wainthrop Investigates.
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LEFT:
Sudell Primary School in Sudell Road appears as Roker Vale County Primary where
Dawn does her teaching practice in Series 1; the staff and pupils of the school are credited
for their help at the end of "Eric's Job".
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LEFT:
The TA Drill Hall used in Series 1 and 2 was in Bury Road, Haslingden.
The site is still used as an Army Cadet Centre, although the original
building has been torn down and a new one built further back from the road.
Presumably, this happened before Series 3 was filmed as that used a different
(and as yet unidentified) location.
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LEFT:
Diesel's garage was located in Darwen Road in Bromley Cross, just north of Bolton. However, it
has now been demolished and replaced by a block of flat. The real name of the garage
was HS Motors (the name can be seen painted out on the front of the building
in many episodes).
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RIGHT:
This war memorial is seen in the episode "Lloydy's Fish". The
chip shop that is featured in the same episode is also in this
town.
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Other Lancashire Locations
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HURRANS GARDEN CENTRE:
The scenes at Roker Vale Garden Centre, where Hodge works, were filmed at this
garden centre near Blakedown in Worcestershire, on the A456 between
Stourbridge and Kidderminster. Filming there took place on three occasions (one
for each series), making use of the main building, the outdoor shrubbery and
the coffee shop (for Series 3). Unfortunately the garden centre was subject to
an arson attack in January 1998 and the resulting fire destroyed many of the buildings,
so the centre is no longer recognisable from the series.
CANNOCK CHASE:
This is a large area of common land
north of Cannock in Staffordshire which doubled for Germany during the
filming of the exercises that take place in "Kirsty's Biscuit".
THE BLACK COUNTRY MUSEUM:
The heritage museum which is visited by Spock, Dieter, Ingrid and their students
in "Spock's Leg" is this real-life museum in Dudley, West Midlands.
THE CANALS:
The canal where Lloydy sails his new narrowboat in "Lloydy's Ark" is the
Birmingham Canal Navigation Main Line. In particular, Smethwick Pumping Station and a
flight of locks at Tardebigge feature in the episode.
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