Queen Vic the ‘most dangerous pub’ in Soapland

The Queen Victoria, the local pub in UK soap opera EastEnders, has been named the most dangerous and oddly indestructible business in all of Britain’s ‘Soapland’.

The Queen Vic’s owner, Peggy Mitchell (played by Barbara Windsor), during the 2010 fire

Security company ADT recently conducted a study to identify every fire and break-in that occurs at the businesses depicted in soaps such as EastEnders, Hollyoaks, Coronation Street and Emmerdale.

What they found was a litany of disasters that would have had 80% of businesses in the real world forced into administration.

The most accident-prone business was the ‘Queen Vic‘ (as it is colloquially known), which in the last 10 years has experienced nine break-ins and two fires – and that’s without counting the fights, shootings, murders, deaths by misadventure, buried corpses and sexual shenanigans that have taken place there.

With the average case of breaking and entering costing a business £13,570 and a fire at least around £3,000, the pub has wracked up costs of around £128,000.

The largest fire took place at the pub in 2010 as part of a plotline that allowed the show to subtly upgrade the set – which had stood since 1984 – due to the advent of high-definition television.

As CAMRA estimates 29 pubs close every week in the UK, the fictional boozer is truly beating the odds to remain afloat.

Another disaster prone pub is Hollyoak’s ‘The Loft’, which has suffered fires and break-ins to the tune of some £33,000 in the last decade.

In the real world 80% of businesses with even one such major experience close within 18 months. As well as pubs, last year it was estimated that 15 shops across British high streets are closing every day.

Many UK businesses continue to suffer from such mishaps through lack of smoke or burglar alarms or even failing to lock up their premises securely, ADT said.

Still, not even the best security measures in the world could save Coronation Street’s well-known corner shop, D&S Alahan’s, which was first burnt to the ground by an unhinged character and then rebuilt only to be smashed to bits by a derailed tram a little later.