abstract
| - Frank Mills was a barman at a Blackpool hotel where Bet Lynch, Rita Fairclough and Mavis Riley stayed at when they went on holiday there in July 1985. Bet was hoping to meet a man but she and Rita ended up bored in the hotel bar. While serving them, Frank suggested they come back in the evening for a toy fayre as the bar would be full of reps. He later tested out his own cocktail The White Tower on Bet and Rita and told them he wanted to set up on his own but didn't know anyone in the business. Bet offered to put a good word in for him with Newton & Ridley. A month later, Frank was fired from the hotel after arguing with the manager. He looked in Weatherfield for a job interview and turned up in the Rovers, to Bet's delight. While he didn't get the job he had gone for, he was onto a winner with Bet; clearly falling for him, she put him up in her spare room and, when Wilf Starkey resigned as Rovers cellarman, Frank was taken on. Having trod this path before and been hurt, Bet wanted a commitment from Frank before letting him move into her bedroom but, eventually, though no commitment was made, they spent the night together anyway. When Betty Turpin returned to the Rovers after visiting Gordon Clegg, she was shocked to discover that Frank had got his feet under the table and complained to Bet that he spent more time chatting to the customers than working. Soon after, Frank told Bet he'd got a job on a Norwegian cruise liner and was leaving immediately. Bet slapped him, angry at him for leaving her, but ended up accepting his invitation come to his ship for a holiday. She returned to the Rovers full of regrets; she'd finished with Frank and she was in trouble with the brewery for leaving her post. Frank turned up in Weatherfield again a month later, and Bet let him lend a hand behind the bar while he stayed in the Portway Hotel. His wandering eye led to him to new barmaid Gloria Todd, who did fancy him but who wouldn't betray Bet. Soon after this Bet returned to his bed, partially because she was worried that she risked losing him to Gloria. Frank and Gloria continued to flirt and on Christmas Day he made a pass at her, which she rejected. He tried again, and this time she had to fight him off and ended up with bruises. Frank told Gloria she'd regret rejecting him and told Bet that Gloria had made a pass at him and had been badmouthing him to the customers. Gloria then told Bet her version of events and Bet, believing Gloria, told Frank to get out of her life.
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