In a workshop in Bootle, England’s last barrelmaker hangs up his tools

Plus: a report into child abuse failures in St Helens

Dear readers — in today’s members-only edition, we have:

• News of objections to the “sexually objectifying” restaurant Hooters coming to Liverpool, plus some other news from the past few days.

• Mollie’s reporting from St Helens about serious allegations of child sexual abuse which were highlighted in a major report this week.

• Some great Post Picks to fill your time this weekend.

• And a lovely read from Robin Brown about a Bootle man named Les Skinner, who is one of the country’s last remaining barrel-makers.

Thanks to Post reader Nev Bann for this response to Laura Meher’s deeply-reported long read about domestic abuse in the city region.

Excellent article on domestic abuse and what I liked about it was that there was no cheap attempt to sensationalise this difficult issue. Also your local political coverage is balanced, detailed and thorough and long may it continue.

In case you missed it, you can read Laura’s piece here.