The shopkeeper – who was played by actor Matthew Wolfenden in the ITV soap – fled the village in November after discovering son Jacob Gallagher was in a secret relationship with his former girlfriend Victoria Sugden.
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At the time David promised he would return having just learned of his father Eric Pollard’s Parkinson’s diagnosis.
But now it has been confirmed that his exit is a permanent one after 18 years in the village.
In tonight’s episode Jacob walked into the shop to find his grandad and mum Leyla in an intense conversation.
“Your dad rang,” Eric said as Jacob interrupted.
He told his grandad: “I know what you’re going to say but you don’t need to look so worried.
“This is great actually because I can apologise properly. I can make everything better, I can tell him how much I’ve missed him.”
But an upset Eric snapped and told him to stop, adding: “He is not coming back. He has decided to stay a lot longer with Priya.”
“How much longer?” asked Jacob, with Eric replying: “Forever.”
Later Jacob got hit with a bombshell from mum Leyla – she blamed him and no longer wanted him around.
Jacob told his mum: “I’ll ring dad and ask him to reconsider, I’ll remind him that he promised grandad that he’d be back.”
“Jacob if there was any way that David was going to change his mind, that wouldn’t be there,” Leyla said pointing to the for sale sign on David’s cottage.
“He’s clearly decided to start a life somewhere where there’s no bad memories.
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“Hope you and Victoria will be very happy living together. I think I’d prefer to find a place by myself.
“You’ve made your choice.”