Pretty cool! Sadly, for every Zohran Mamdani there’s also a Piers Morgan 😂

SAVE THE DATE! Doesn’t feel true, but it is: we have been shirking for four years! Come shirk some more with us next weekend and celebrate our birthday Games, raffles and free beer to win all weekend long 🍺🎉 📆29-31 May

La Serenissima by Rondo Veneziano. If ever there's a definitive example of "that thing you stumbled across on telly while you were waiting for something else, and never, ever forgot it", here it is. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4Fr...

There are days when I miss being an editor. I loved writing headlines. Whoever did this, I hope they took the rest of the day off.

The Shirker’s is 4! Got an array of “greatest hits” beers in for this birthday weekend. Plus games and prizes, including a 5l mini keg of Sonoma! Fri 29th to Sunday 31st.

Good old Wrighty 😂

The best of days.

The new Deserter Pubcast is out now. Pubs, crisps, drugs and spuds. Plus an interview with pub artist, Lydia Wood. Wherever you get your podcasts or here: www.podfollow.com/deserter-pubcast

The new Deserter Pubcast is out. Now, is this Dirk or James?

I’ve listened to quite a bit of Happy Mondays on music streaming platforms. But none of them has dared to offer me this #totp

I’m going right off that United States of America.

Happy 35th birthday to a chord progression of our times and all the people I shared it with. open.spotify.com/track/1SShxV...

A wonderful bit of work. Recommend sitting down with a pint (or two!) and treating yourself to some fine journalism. www.theguardian.com/world/ng-int...

To think he got up this morning, did a state pension fist pump, and then the doorbell rang.

They just a wanna They just a wanna Ghouls just wanna have fun

Please. And no. This oversaturated Londoner says try opening a real pub. That’s where the art is. www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

My brother wanted a London pub crawl. The result? My new Substack post: "Britain Lost 14,000 Third Places. They were Called Pubs. Is Your Local Next?" How private equity reshaped the local, which pubs are most at risk and most importantly what to do about it. open.substack.com/pub/laurenle...

😳 Though the Group of Death!

Spot on. A pint on the house when you’re next in the Shirker’s, @jonathanliew.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

A wonderful piece of writing about the struggle to make writing pay and the reasons behind it. Madeleine did a work-in-progress stand up show at the pub recently. I now realise it was probably one of 50 things she did that week.

We are honoured to have been nominated for Lewisham Area CAMRA Pub of the Year! And in some very fine company, too. Check out the contenders here (but you have to be a member of CAMRA SE London branch to vote). sel.camra.org.uk/lewisham-are...

If you like your podcasts frost-bitten, with pubs, pixies, potatoes and people dressed as plants, this one’s for you. www.podfollow.com/deserter-pubcast

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO HORSES! IT IS HORSE BIRTHDAY! HORSE!!!!!

Remembering Micky. God rest you, you lovely man.

Play Ja Ja Ding Dong! #eurovision

Went up the hill and had a chat with Micky.

Part 1 of my story The Publican, as published in Londonist. To the person asking if there was a map of the pubs Gavin visits in the story - it’s in this piece!

Good to be able to jailbreak our first-born from warehouse incarceration!

Take the stress out of NYE. No advance planning required. No tickets to get in to a pub. Just drop in, hang out and meet new friends over some fine ales and ciders.

Go easy on me, Shirkmates!

On stage with Meatraffle at Dash the Henge last night. Kinda. Living the dream! Thanks to everyone who came along. Now to retire again.

What goes around comes around.

One of the three wise men having mid-life crisis.

Hello Camberwell! Looking forward to a hometown gig on Friday. Come down if you can - it’s free and there’s beer.

I’ll be opening up the Shirker’s again on Christmas Day, before going home to cook lunch tipsy. Always such a lovely, festive pub-family vibe, with people bringing food to share and pausing for a couple of hours in the madness. One of my favourite pub days.

What Paul Doyle did should be triggering a national conversation about car use in the same way that Dunblaine did for gun ownership

Hello Camberwell! Looking forward to a hometown gig on Friday. Come down if you can - it’s free and there’s beer.

New favourite account.

Tonight at 7pm (UK time) 📖🎤🍷

#London 📚✒️🎤🍺

Join me and @vincerai.bsky.social nattering about our new book, doing a reading and having a tot of something.

NEW PUBCAST: Carousing in Catford & Lewisham Feat. dementia, dossers and Doritos, plus the Desert Island Crisps of an actual professional pub snack buyer. Out now wherever you get your podcasts, or right here on our website, with dates of upcoming live appearances. deserter.co.uk/2025/12/pubc...

Coming Thursday, 11th Dec - we're live at The Bookseller Crow in Crystal Palace in a double bill of book, music and slacking fun, with drinks. And we'll be raising a glass to dear, departed Jonathan Main. 7.30pm. Book your spot below. booksellercrow.co.uk/event/desert...

Save our Swan! A rallying call from SE7.

We’re doing an online book event to talk about our new collection of short stories, Deserter Stories. Weds, December 10th, 7pm. Register here to join us: luma.com/n5jmckv2 Bring a bottle. The book is available to buy here: deserter.store

Love’s Forever Changes the feature LP at the first Vinyl Club Social. And possibly the last. Exhausted.

Join @vincerai.bsky.social and I in Eltham this Weds for an evening of beer and books and bonhomie. We'll be at the Rusty Bucket at 7pm to talk about Deserter Stories and do a little reading.

Just the greatest thread. Singlehandedly saves Bluesky plus dinner sorted. 🥓

The Vega. In the name of all things holy. Accidentally had a pint of it. Mind blown. 🙏🏻 @thornbridge.bsky.social & @handbrewco.bsky.social