Growing up in Salford, David Taylor can still hear the milkman rattle across his old cobbled street.
Mill workers came home with fluff stuck to their coats. Women swept their front steps. Children raced each other in carts made from old pram frames.
Though life on the street was wholesome, it was mostly unremarkable.
That was until a few years later when it was unexpectedly launched into stardom.
In the autumn of 1960, Archie Street inspired what would later become the longest-running soap opera in the world.
It was stumbled upon by show creators Tony Warren and Denis Parkin who were out scouring Ordsall for film set ideas.
It was there that Coronation Street was born.
But David, who moved to the street as a child in 1954, remembers life on the original cobbles before its rise to fame.
“You live in different areas but it’s one of those streets you never forget,” the 68-year-old told the Manchester Evening News.
“It was the street of dreams.
“What you see on TV, I know they had a show to do, but there really were some great times that used to go on.
“We had troubles and problems because it was hard – you name it.”
While we’re all familiar with the famous Rovers Return, Underworld and Roy’s Rolls, there are some notable differences between the fictional Coronation Street and its real inspiration.
There were terraced homes on both side of Archie Street with no factory or pub.
There was a real corner shop – called Daniel Clifton & Co. Ltd – but it did not have a railway viaduct.
“It’s true, we did have a shop on the corner,” David, who lived at house number eight, continued.
“We had bay window houses on the same side as the set and opposite were flat-fronted homes.
“The rent was about 3p more a week because of the bay windows. It was dearer on that part of the street than others on the road.
“We would all be out playing on the street on bikes hanging around.
“The women used to clean and sweep the steps once a week.
“My dad was a policeman and there were a lot of people who used to go to the corner shop and have credit.
“People calling it ‘ticking’ when they were a bit short of money.
“He would write in a book that if you had goods, then you had to go in and pay the shopkeeper what they owed.
“There would have been a lot of that going on during that time.”
David was born in Ashton but now lives in Bournemouth.
He lived on Archie Street for 17 years before his family was forced to move out.
Residents were rehoused in 1968 as part of a huge slum clearance project in Salford, which aimed to redevelop 222 acres of land and rehome more than 6,000 families.
The street stood derelict for years until it was eventually demolished in 1971.
Before it disappeared, the street was used to film the title sequence for Coronation Street.
The row of terraced homes soon gathered notability and began attracting visitors from all over the country.
By 1969 it was even nicknamed Coronarchie Street by local residents.
“As the TV programme started, we got a lot of people travelling from all over the UK wanting to take pictures,” dad-of-one David said.
“They would ask us where we live and where the pub was.
“There was a real Rovers Return, but that was about a 10-minute walk away.
“We had all these different people coming along.”
Before residents moved out, Archie Street was known as the birthplace of Manchester United "Busby Babe" Eddie Colman.
His team-mate, Bobby Charlton, has spoken of spending Christmas Day with the Colmans, their extended family, friends and neighbours who all congregated at house number nine with jugs of beer from the off-licence at the corner.
Eddie later died in the Munich air disaster in February 1958.
Although the street was mostly used to take publicity photos of cast members over the years, David remembers film crews visiting to record one scene.
“They brought a milk float in and the actor messed up his line five or six times – they had to re-shoot it so many times.
“Elsie Tanner drove down the street waving at people.
“Quite a few things used to go on. I was a toddler and kicked the ball with Eddie Colman in the street.
“They asked if I wanted to be the mascot at Old Trafford.
“We would race our carts, crash and tip up. Neighbours would run out shouting, ‘What have you done to my wall?’
“People tended to stay in. A woman six doors up used to work for the mill and would come home with fluff all over her coat. She would talk loudly because of the machine.”
Tourists and celebrities weren't the only things David encountered during his time on the street.
He claims ghostly goings-on also occurred at house number eight.
“One or two creepy little things used to happen in the house,” he said.
“The lights might flick off.
“One time when I was in the back bedroom, I pictured this Victorian lad come near my bed.
“I said, 'Who are you? Clear off!' and as I went to reach out he smile, jumped back and walked through my bedroom door.
“Once the electricity went off and my mum left me in the bedroom with a candle.
“I started to feel a bit warm - only half the bed was on fire.
“Something told me to wake up now. I jumped out and ran down to where it wasn't on fire to shout my mum.
“I've got two scars on the back of my leg where the rubber stuck to me and burnt my leg.”
Although life on the cobbles was difficult at times, David says he will never forget his time on Archie Street.
"I know we have it on television, but there was a lot of happy memories.
“Yes, it was hard living. But it’s something you never ever forget in a way.”
David is keen to speak to anyone else who may have lived on Archie Street.
Those who may have lived on the street during a similar time are encouraged to contact him by emailing davidtaz@hotmail.co.uk.
