A mansion once owned by one of the most recognisable faces on British television has been caught in a blistering row over migrants. Soap star Julie Goodyear played the iconic character of landlady Bet Lynch on Coronation Street, or Corrie as it affectionately known, for decades.
The star who famously served pints at The Rovers Return once lived at Primrose Hill Farm, near Rochdale, Greater Manchester, but sold the property in 2025 for £1.5million. But now the rural idyll has been set upon by protesters waving Union flags and banners in recent weeks who are falsely claiming there are plans to turn it into a house of multiple occupation (HMO) for immigrants.
The demonstrators descended on the site after building work began without planning permission at the property. Rochdale Council confirmed there had been no plans submitted to house immigrants. According to the BBC and Local Democracy Reporting Service, a building control application for a 15-bed HMO was submitted to the council in October, but the application was amended on November 10, 2025 to become a 15-bedroom bed and breakfast.
Building control plans were amended again on February 11 this year, to create 10 two-bedroom apartments, however Rochdale Council said none of the plans had so far been deemed valid as they did not contain enough detail.
Activists from the Heywood Community Guard and Heywood HMO protesters Facebook groups have vowed to continue protesting each weekend until they get confirmation there will be no HMO on the site.
Posts in these groups have falsely claimed there are plans to use this site to house immigrants.
Local ward councillor, Paul O’Neill, told the MEN: “We just have to stop this disinformation about this site and other sites. There is no planning permission for this property and building work has been stopped following concerns raised by residents and councillors.
“Residents quite rightly were concerned about it and now planning enforcement action has taken action.”
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A spokesperson for Rochdale Council said: « The individual concerned did submit a planning application to us some weeks ago, but this application was for nine dwellings, not an HMO.
« This application wasn’t valid, so is not listed on our website, as would be the case with any invalid application.
« An invalid application is one where the applicant hasn’t submitted enough information to enable officers to make a recommendation on whether the application should be approved.
« Regarding the reported building on site without planning permission, the temporary stop notice remains in place and our enforcement team are making regular visits to the site and speaking to residents in neighbouring properties to ensure that the individual concerned is complying with this temporary stop notice. »
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