Josh (Episode 8706)

Josh was a friend of Simon Barlow's having met him on the football team organised by Zeedan Nazir. Simon's mother, Leanne Tilsley, organised a meal for the boys at Nick's Bistro after one of their practice matches. As they entered, Josh complimented Leanne on the premises. Steph Britton, a lover of football, gave the lads advice on re-hydrating themselves with water instead of coke and lemonade and tried to demonstrate her "keepy uppy" abilities which sent the ball into the middle of the boy's table.

Josh asked Simon if he played video games and another boy, Kyle boasted that he played 18+ ones and went on to tell the gullible lads that a previous night he had sat up until 2.00am playing such games whilst drinking shots of Tequila. Simon tried to keep up in the boasting stakes by saying that he liked vodka best and Kyle pushed him into stealing some from behind the bar. They added the illicit liquor to their soft drinks and as the afternoon wore on became louder and more boisterous. Steph told them to be quiet, telling them that Emily Bishop and Rita Tanner, sat at a nearby table, couldn't hear themselves and Kyle rudely shouted back that in that case they should put their hearing aids in. Leanne started to shout at Kyle but when Simon rushed to the toilets to be sick, she realised what had been happening and went ballistic at the youngsters demanding to know how they had obtained the drink. Kyle didn't last long before dropping Simon right in it by telling tales on him. Simon was sent home while Leanne rang the parents of Josh and the others to report what had happened and to have them collected.