ITV has apologised after a Haworth sign used in top soap Coronation Street was misspelt.

A shot in Sunday evening’s episode showed a direction sign to “Howarth”.

The scene was as Norris Cole tried to make his escape from an increasingly unstable Mary Taylor. The pair had been sharing a cottage, supposedly in Brontë Country.

An ITV spokesman said: “We can only apologise for the error but we would hope the fact that the area was depicted and talked about in such a positive light would more than make up for this small mistake.”

The company also admitted that although it had looked at possible filming locations in Brontë Country, the shooting was eventually done nearer the Manchester production base.

This week, although there was disappointment at the misspelling of Haworth, many felt that the benefits of the publicity for the area outweighed the downside.

Matt Stroh, chairman of tourism marketing body the Brontë Country Partnership, said: “It is sad that Haworth was misspelt but we can’t be anything but grateful for the coverage the area has received.

“The filming location decision is interesting because one of the issues we have is convincing people that we are not that far from Manchester.”