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Flash Fiction Friday: The Stripper
"The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom." – William Blake

My name is Oscar, and I’m an alcoholic.

The Happy Ending became my life – a strip club in Soho where rock bands played between dancers. The crack, the chaos, the endless bottles in the 90s – it slipped through my fingers like wine rolling down a hooker’s lips. Addiction stole everything.

It started with my twin sister’s death. I reached for the bottle to numb the pain, but that only led to...

Punk doesn’t sit still. It doesn’t gather dust in a museum. Punk lives, sweats, and bleeds—or it dies. That’s why I’ve been watching Mark Thorn, one of the most electric voices in UK punk rock today I've known Mark over 20 years when he used to play for me at the Mau Mau bar on Portobello Road in Notting Hill. His vocals are rough enough to sandpaper a wall and sharp enough to cut through a thousand copycat bands. And now, he’s the lead...

Hope you like my rendition of the TWAT

I first met John at the funeral of the great train robber Bruce Richard Reynolds. A strange setting, maybe, but it showed me the circles this man’s words travelled in — across poets, rebels, dreamers and outlaws. I spoke with him a couple of times after that, and what struck me most was his genuine, down-to-earth northernness. No airs, no pretence, just sharp wit and truth delivered...

Seventeen. Out on bail in Warrington for theft I didn’t commit—but that’s another story.

Curfew hanging over me. Supposed to be home by 7pm. I didn’t care. I wanted freedom. I wanted the world. Flight paid. Fuck it. I wanted bigger than my street. Bigger than Warrington pubs.

So I blagged it. I flew to Canada. First plane journey. First taste of life outside Europe.

Three weeks in Edmonton. Walking the streets like I belonged. My girlfriend’s mates suggested a Supertramp...

Under Irish Management

The Stewart Arms W11, a fantastic women-run pub, thrives under the management of Shauna and her mum Tina, alongside their brilliant bar staff, Tina, Sophie, Emma, and Oli, the friendly doorman. They keep the toilets sparkling and the beer pipes in top-notch condition.

Micky P will host his Portobello Live at the Stewart every Wednesday night, bringing vibrant energy to the area and guaranteeing a great time.

It will be great to see more promoters looking to...

Have you ever wondered about switching paths and chasing a new dream? My journey shows that it’s never too late to embrace your passions.

I arrived in London in the 1980s as a bricklayer in the bustling construction world. That was my life before travelling music and crime took over. But in 2017, I took a leap into creative writing, and now I’m studying for a BA in Creative Writing at Birkbeck, University of London. The key?...

Behind the Green Door: Inside Chelsea Arts Club, London
Walk down Old Church Street in Chelsea, London, and you might miss it: a plain green door, quiet and unmarked. No plaque, no neon sign. Yet push it open, and you enter the Chelsea Arts Club — one of London’s last true bohemian sanctuaries, a private members’ club where art, laughter, and mischief have thrived since 1891.

A Living Stage in Chelsea
The bar hits first — a surge of sound, laughter, and overlapping conversations. The walls are a...