Simon Barlow relapses with booze blowout as Coronation Street exit looms after 16 years
The Sun first revealed his impending departure at the end of last year
CORONATION Street spoilers reveal Simon Barlow will revisit old vices in upcoming scenes.
Alex Bain, who has played Simon since 2008, is making his exit from the cobbles after 16 years.
Now 22, Alex became the fourth actor to portray the role.
In December, The Sun exclusively revealed Alex would be leaving the show having joined when he was seven years old.
Some of the character Simon’s storylines to date include being drawn into the world of drug dealing after being manipulated into getting into debt.
More recently, he was kicked out by Nick (Ben Price) after crashing Leanne’s car while driving Nick’s son Sam (Jude Riordan) to a chess tournament.
Simon later revealed to his adoptive mother Leanne (Jane Danson) that he was over the drink drive limit at the time.
Meanwhile, Sam had to be rushed to hospital for treatment.
Although Simon’s time on the ITV soap is coming to an end, he still has plenty of drama ahead of him before his departure comes.
In scenes airing this week, Leanne leaves to go on a retreat, which Toyah (Georgia Taylor) begs her to reconsider going on.
Leanne refuses to change her mind and later, Simon is hurt to find she has gone without saying goodbye.
Having bunked off work, Simon then gets drunk and throws up in Tim’s (Joe Duttine) cab before doing a runner without paying.
It is not the first time in recent months that Simon has been in trouble due to excessive drinking.
Back in February, the wayward young man was caught stealing beers from the Bistro by Leanne and Nick.
He then went to the Rovers and got increasingly more drunk as the day went on.
By the time he had been cut off, Simon tried to take more booze from behind the bar and passed out in a booth.
When Leanne tried to help him later, Simon lashed out and smashed a pint glass in the process.
Simon’s impending exit follows the departure of his father Peter (Chris Gascoyne), who exited on Boxing Day.
However, as Simon was nowhere to be found when Peter leaving, the pair never got a chance to say goodbye to each other.
Will Simon ultimately get to reunite with his dad, or will his final scenes go in a different direction entirely?
