Spanish dispatches, HMO woes and a street dance resolution

Dear readers — long time no speak! Abi here, returning to you after a lovely holiday feeling refreshed and revitalised, ready to dig into all the tips and scoops you so kindly left in my inbox while I was gone.

While I rifle into those, I thought I’d give you an update on what I’ve been interested in over the past few months in the form of an editor’s edition. The last time I wrote one of these, I’d just passed my driving test and had ended up perilously barrelling down the M57, hyperventilating into my handbag. I wish I could say my driving had gotten any better…

But before all that — as always, your Post briefing.

Your Post briefing

Brookside’s return date has been revealed. Next Wednesday 22nd October at 7pm, the stars of the Scouse soap will cross over with Hollyoaks for a one-off special. The episode, which will mark Hollyoaks' 30th anniversary, has been filming since September, and will see the returns of TV royalty Sue Johnston and Ricky Tomlinson, as well as Paul Usher as Barry Grant, Philip Olivier as Timothy "Tinhead" O'Leary, Suzanne Collins as Nikki Shadwick and Michael Starke as Thomas "Sinbad" Sweeney. Louis Emerick, who played Mick Johnson in Brookside, is currently playing Hollyoaks’ detective Donny Clark. To read our recent elegy to “Brookie”, including an interview with Emerick, click here.

Liam Robinson has denied "waging a war on cars" after Liverpool City Council revealed a long-term strategy to reduce the number of cars able to park in the city-centre at its latest council meeting. The plan involves slicing the number of vehicles travelling into the city by cutting back on car parks and available parking spaces. Robinson, the council leader, told Radio Merseyside there are in fact surplus parking spaces to meet existing demand in the city centre. He also noted that 40% of residents were not car users. Opposition leader and Liberal Democrat Carl Cashman also spoke to Radio Merseyside about Labour’s “war on cars, businesses and safety.”

And the Zanzibar is to close after 35 years. "It's with a heavy heart we are saying goodbye. Thank you to everyone who has come through, we hope you all made great memories to hold onto," the venue’s social media post read. The club, which has hosted such acts as Noel Gallagher and The Coral, was a vital part of the city’s music scene. Started in 1990 by Walton-born promoter Tony Butler, who died in 2018, “the Zanzi” closed in 2020 due to COVID but reopened under new ownership. Stay tuned, because this issue — and the state of Liverpool’s music scene more generally — will be covered in our blistering weekend read.