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Do you remember when people used to proclaim that social media was going to bring us all together like nothing before it?

Ha! How quaint. Things sure didn’t turn out like that.

While the platforms might have started out offering excitingly simple new pursuits such as connecting with old friends, posting lovely photos or participating in realtime news moments, they have since inexorably morphed - almost fused - into something else entirely.

Today’s compulsive social feeds are essentially a rapid fire entertainment, outrage, advertising and marketing juggernaut, something their devilishly habit-forming UX design and in-your-pocket convenience has helped to dominate and alter the deepest reaches of society.

And from scroll-addled tweens to preyed-upon pensioners, nobody seems to be coping very well with this unprecedented assault on our cerebral cortex.

Yet still the received wisdom is that you’ve got to be ‘on the socials’, a slave to the apps.

Looking for love? A new job? More customers? Some new readers, perhaps? There’s apparently only one game in town, and it’s going to sap your attention as well as your will to live into the bargain.

We’re expected to spew out a daily dry-wretch of relentlessly upbeat promotional chunder, or spout emotionally resonant but fully dead-eyed words of ‘wisdom’, lest we be summarily penalised for our lack of engaging enough content.

As someone who works with a passion for words and images, I’ve never been particularly enthused by building audiences on Silicon Valley-owned platforms that seem to end up getting us to work for for them, while simultaneously destroying the established media industries that used to pay us to produce quality output.

But this isn’t actually a negative rant on the state of digital.

This week we’re going to switch up how we navigate social media via @camdenist, and bend their cynical algorithms to our new uncompromised approach.✊🏼

I realise there’s a simple answer to my natural dislike of the metrics-based likes and followers obsessions, rubbing up alongside the inane hyperspeed wannabe food, fashion and travel influencers, and trying to gain attention in the everything-as-marketing ethos: ignore the hell out of it more than ever, but purposefully post with a culture-first agenda.

We won’t compete for eyeballs by attempting viral AI videos or clickbait headlines; instead, we’re going to publish lovely unexpected images to delight locals, and shine a light on some of the very analogue, creative goings on that make life in this part of London so dynamic and attractive.

In the course of that, we’ll obviously support businesses, shows and worthy ventures that you may in turn want to go and spend some money enjoying, but the imperative won’t be desperate attempts to stop the scroll with shiny generic promotional guff.

I feel there’s an opportunity, just as AI generated rubbish floods the zone on all fronts, to take back a bit of control about how we’d like the media game to work for us, and to the benefit of our community.

So with a large serving of irony, at this point I’ll ask that if you are not already 'following us on the socials, you might like to do so now to see how this experiment pans out.

We’ve chosen three key platforms to focus on:

• @camdenist on Instagram for images and a lot more IG Live interviews (scrappy tech setup glitches and all).

• camdenist.substack/notes for chatter about this newsletter and associated topics over on the expanding social network formerly the gentle preserve of writers, aka Substack.

• And if you’d like to connect about the wider business, including our sister title The Wick and it’s forthcoming hardback book, plus the development of a new local loyalty platform, join me on linkedin.com/in/tomkihl

Finally, if you are a Camden business who regularly DMs us for promotion and reposts, which is basically free advertising, we’d love you to come on this journey with us.

We’ll be in touch about new ways to genuinely connect with Camdenist readers that isn’t just another screaming 3-second snapshot in the daily doomscroll that nobody can remember a moment later.

We’ve added a business tier to this newsletter’s premium upgrades page, for those keen to join our community and build strong, mutually supportive networks all of our own - together.

I now view social as the beginning of a wider editorial process, as video interviews become in-depth features and people can welcome @camdenist cultural posts as a breath of fresh air in the choaking cacophony of their feeds, if they really must dive into them.

This approach will keep changing. The turbulent times continue. But we need to willfully stem the tide of lowest common denominator content that nobody likes but everybody seems to gravitate towards, and this is how this humble title intends to do it.

CAMDEN CHATTER

🤫 Hot gossip with a side of idle local tittle tattle

🍕 Highgate Village Italian Don Ciccio suddenly closed this week, leaving an embittered and cutting farewell sign-off on their website. “To the community of Highgate and its neighbours - thank you for never supporting us, not even once,” it rails. The restaurant is the latest in a long line of ultimately doomed ventures at 1a Hampstead Lane. This one lasted a very respectable six years (including through Covid), but it was ultimately - clearly - not enough. The note goes on to thank all the staff for their passion and for “enduring the humiliation of entire evenings with an empty dining room,” while also damn a selection of local groups. “To those who lived a few doors away yet ordered delivery from somewhere else, thank you for your commitment to distance.” Ouch.

🍻 After fears for the future of the classic old-school boozer McGlynn’s in King’s Cross, it’s been revealed that the building’s new owners are artist Peter Doig and his partner. They appear itching to reopen it as authentically as possible, with a few much-needed tweaks. While that process rumbles on, they’ve already opened up the staff accommodation as a temporary exhibition space.

🥐 ​The latest London artisanal Italian bakery sure to shake up the snap-happy hordes, Nonna, just opened. They do Sicilian sarnis, cannolo, brioche con gelato (pictured above) and loads more freshly made daily delights at their UK flagship on High Holborn right by the tube.

🏗️ The Council’s long-planned redevelopment of the King’s Cross backwater of Camley Street has taken a big step forwards with developer Ballymore’s application for the large site now submitted. Take a look at the plans and let us know what you think. It certainly promises to be a decent potential addition to the borough, opening up some forgotten links alongside the railway with new public realm and community co-designed living and working units.

🏊🏼 You’ve got a month to have a say in the essentially insurmountable debate over the best way to cater to trans individuals at Hampstead Heath’s beloved men’s and women’s bathing ponds. It’s a good opportunity to swerve the shrill culture war positions and contribute thoughtful opinions via the slightly clunky Commonplace platform.

🍺 Infamous music boozer The Fiddler’s Elbow is now doing £5 pints every Monday night.

🏔️ Camdenist reader Anna Pierce got in touch to say last week’s lead on good news for magazines struck a chord, since her hubby recently turned his own dream into reality and launched his own new print publication. Mountains Magazine (subtitle: ‘Peak Pleasures Year Round’) is exactly what you think - a title celebrating places and spaces upon rock faces. A world away from Camden, but a kindred project, no doubt. Subscribe to their newsletter and order copies via the picturesque website.

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CAMDEN CURATED

10 unexpected cultural delights to discover this week

FESTIVAL: 🎈 The 2025 Bloomsbury Festival spans this weekend beginning today Fri 17th - Sun 19th Oct showcasing local heritage and new wave art, music, theatre and creativity. There are plenty of free events to stumble upon, from sculptures in Russel Square to songs and ballads in Conway Hall. Bring an instrument to a roots and folk jam a Jamboree, join a walk through the streets of St Giles or tune in to the lineup of shows on Bloomsbury Radio. See video of the week below, too.

ART: 🥽 Head to Primrose Hill’s The Art Office to find Embrace, (pictured above) an installation that invites visitors to save the world with hugs. Wearing untethered AR headsets, you move through a mixed-reality environment that responds to human presence and care. First presented at the New Museum’s NEW INC (New York), this Camden edition features drawings by local school children on kindness and belonging. Open Sat 18th - Mon 20th Oct.

MUSIC: 🧢 Two unquestionable hip hop legends in the game bring their 30th anniversary tour to the O2 Forum Kentish Town tonight, Fri 17th Oct, as The Pharcyde & Souls of Mischief drop the science, for which there are a few tempting last minute tickets left.

MUSIC: 🎤 If you fancy belting out your fave R&B smashes with a live band to a wildly responsive party crowd, (or simply enjoying cheering on others), head to Chalk Farm’s big music pub The Dark Horse on Wednesdays for the Vibe Village Open Mic.

DJ: 🎧 Talking of rocking up and performing your heart out, the mighty DJ AG will be doing his streaming thing in the middle of Camden High Street right outside Boxpark this Mon 20th Oct. Bring your A-game and sing, dance, tell jokes, do tricks and reach his huge audiences.

ART: Wander deeper into town from Frieze to discover Fitzrovia’s own celebration of creativity, community at The Artist’s Corner, a three-day pop-up starting Thurs 23rd Oct featuring standout works from the neighbourhood’s galleries and emerging artists, special food and drink offers and the unveiling of delightfully fluro Polish painter and illustrator Oliwia Bober’s striking new mural at 67 Mortimer Street.

STAGE: 🎭 Hampstead Theatre land their latest UK premiere with The Assembled Parties centred around a New York movie star’s insistence on having a big Christmas, despite her family’s reminders that they are in fact Jewish. Local fave Tracy-Ann Oberman stars. Runs to 22nd Nov.

TALK: 🗣️ Book now if you want to catch rockstar philosopher Slavoj Žižek in conversation with YouTuber, writer and podcaster Alex O’Connor, AKA the Cosmic Skeptic at the epic new Town Hall by Bottaccio venue in King’s Cross. They’ll be going for a deep dive into the making of the 76-year-old, who’s still going strong and widely known as ‘the most dangerous philosopher in the West.’

DANCE: 🩰 Taiwan’s premiere contemporary dance company, Tjimur Dance Theatre, bring Bulabulay Mun? / How Are You? to The Place on Tues 21st Oct. A deeply moving story of a community suddenly confronted by the immense power of wind and waves, awakening a heightened awareness of how far they have drifted from nature.

ART: 🖼️ The latest show at the exciting Camden Arts Projects is I’ve Fallen Foul of my Desire, by Ryan Gander, which opened with a well attended bash on Monday night. Look out for his playful pieces including the vending machine full of rocks (and a wad of 10k Euros), the epic black sphere in the courtyard emblazoned with the pertinent legend ‘why and I so distracted?’ (pictured below) and the animatronic harvest mouse that breaks through the wall and spouts philosophy. Runs to 18th Jan.

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