We have investigated the role of liquid elasticity in the dynamics of air–liquid interfaces during immiscible fluid displacement flows. Our experimental studies of coating flows with gravity stabilization in an eccentric cylinder geometry for both a viscous Newtonian fluid and a series of elastic Boger fluids have uncovered two new elastically driven phenomena. First, elasticity is shown to create steady, two-dimensional ‘sharp interfaces’ under creeping flow conditions in forward-roll coating. Digital particle image velocimetry (DPIV) and DEVSS finite element techniques are applied to investigate the effect of gravity on both the flow field and the state of polymeric stresses near the free surface. Secondly, a new class of elastically driven stable substructures is shown to form and persist along the tip, i.e. the centre stagnation line, of the two-dimensional `sharp interfaces' even after the onset of ribbing.