Bard of Liverpool?: No, 'but I’ve been barred from loads of places in Liverpool’

Good morning. PJ Smith could have been a footballer — he got signed to play for Everton as a child. But for a long while he chose partying instead — drinking, dancing, drugs — which was fun and good, right up until it wasn’t. If you’ve encountered Smith before, you’ve probably done so in his guise as ‘Roy’, an alter ego which allows him to tell the stories of everyone he grew up with. Today, we find out how Smith went from rock bottom to being one of this city’s most celebrated storytellers. 

But before that: the publicly-controlled bus fleet’s first bump in the road and 70,000 nicked pints in our news round-up.

Your Post briefing

New bus setback for city: In Monday’s edition, we covered the 560-strong fleet of cutting-edge buses soon to be hitting the roads as part of the region’s bus network being brought back into public control. Well, they’ve already hit a snag: 400 employees of the buses’ manufacturers, Alexander Dennis, have been striking since June over pay. Earlier this week, workers rejected a two-year pay offer from the company over fears year two would leave them facing a real terms pay cut, and Unite say further strike action is set to impact the delivery of 200 new buses for Liverpool. So while the state-of-the-art buses aren’t stuck in a yard outside Sheffield this time, they may soon be stuck in a yard in Scarborough...

UPDATE (10/09/26): A spokesperson for Alexander Dennis has since been in touch to push back on Unite's claims: "Unite's suggestion that the Liverpool order is already facing delays is simply wrong. Sufficient lead times have been built into the contract, and the industrial action announced by the union at this stage is not expected to impact delivery dates."

Stout stealers leave Skem lead? You may have heard that 70,000 pints of Guinness — roughly a years’ supply for Laurence — were stolen from Whitehouse Industrial Estate on Aston Lane in Runcorn last Monday. Well, the HGVs involved in the daring heist have turned up in Skelmersdale, 30 miles from where they were nicked. Sadly, Lancashire police say the beer barrels — worth about £115,000 — have not been recovered. But detectives have now released footage of two men they want to speak to. Det Sgt Gary McClatchey said police “will not settle for anything less than the full recovery of the near 900 stolen Guinness kegs and the locating of the offenders behind this brazen heist.” 

Children still living in illegal care homes: In July, we broke the story that the city council had placed children in homes unregulated by Ofsted. This week, the BBC found that 14 young people are still living in these unregistered homes, across 12 different providers in areas including Croxteth, Norris Green, Old Swan, Kensington and Fazakerley. Ofsted, who last month carried out its first successful prosecution against this type of provider in Croydon, said that authorities placing young people in illegal dwellings could have their children's services performance ratings downgraded. 

Hello readers, Laurence here. Between Ethan's gossip-debunking Twenty investigation, Melissa's superb interview with Paul Askew, and holding institutions like the University of Liverpool and United Utilities to account, today's piece represents The Post as a journalistic smörgåsbord right now. If you appreciate what we're providing and want to read all of Dylan's interview with PJ, please consider joining our winning team for just £7 a month. It'll mean you'll never miss out on a groundbreaking new story, and you'll have full access to our entire archive of award-winning and nominated journalism.

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In 2021, at Moseley Folk Festival, PJ Smith was about to take to the stage as his literary alter ego, Roy, to a tent that could hold around 300 people. Stepping out, he discovered a more meagre turn out: just one woman and her child sitting in the front. “As I walked out, she said, ‘Are you suitable for children?’” recalls Smith with a laugh as we chat over Zoom. “I said, ‘How liberal a parent are you?’. She picked the kid up and walked off.”

Smith performed regardless. He read stories passionately to nobody from his debut short story collection, Algorithm Party, which is made up of fictional stories from his native Liverpool, featuring characters that range from struggling parents to small-time criminals, pent-up white-collar workers and drinkers long lost to the ale.  

Fast forward four years and Smith is performing at Goodison Park to 40,000 people on the day Everton play their final match there, as the club waves goodbye to the stadium it has called home since 1892.

It was a particularly significant moment for Smith, a lifelong Everton fan who played for the club as a child. It’s also just a five-minute walk from where he grew up on Newby Street. As a staunch Evertonian, and with a reputation for turning heads over the years in various venues in Liverpool, Smith landed on the club's radar. They asked him to write something about Everton's history for a short video and then wondered if he would perform it, along with a new piece, on the side of the pitch before the final game.