EP68 | Solo | Diaries, DIY & Dread | Local Heroes Podcast

EP68 | Solo | Diaries, DIY & Dread | Local Heroes Podcast

This week, Chris and Dan set out to talk about what’s been happening in their lives and somehow end up covering everything from decorating disasters and DIY injuries to family diaries, old letters, horror films and the stories that shape who we are. Dan shares his ongoing battle with decorating, including drilling through his own foot, near misses with electrics, and why he may never become the DIY hero he hopes his family thinks he is. The conversation explores confidence, competence, and the pressure many people feel to be good at things they simply don’t enjoy. From there, things take a more reflective turn as Chris talks about discovering his grandmother’s handwritten diaries and his late father’s letters from working abroad. What starts as a loft-clearing exercise becomes a powerful insight into family history, memory, gratitude, and the ordinary moments that often tell the richest stories. Along the way there are debates about supper, school dinners, art classes, sketchbooks, Garfield slippers, horror films, Poltergeist, Jaws, Freddy Krueger, and why live radio somehow makes an empty house feel less lonely. A funny, nostalgic and unexpectedly moving conversation about creativity, family, fear, and the importance of preserving the everyday stories that might otherwise be lost forever. Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/c/LocalHeroesVIP Insta - https://www.instagram.com/wearelocalheroes/ TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@wearelocalheroes?_t=ZG-8tKWkdyntYm&_r=1 Website - https://www.wearelocalheroes.com/

EP67 | Cal Byerley| Gordon, Gastronomy and Great British Menu | Local Heroes Podcast

This week on the Local Heroes podcast, Chris and Dan sit with Cal Byerley of Restaurant Pine - and Gordons (plural) steal the show. Gordon, the podcast mascot, is named after a rock star, carved from a sculpture celebrating Mary Ann McCann's escape from slavery and destined for a bag stool at a Michelin-starred restaurant. Not bad for a bench. There's also a dog called Gordon - named after Ramsay himself, Scottish and yappy - who nearly caused a very awkward moment on a TV set. The tale of many Gordons. Cal talks about Third Bite - the chef collective born from a conversation with Sir Brendan Foster that has since pulled together some of the country's best chefs to raise serious money for cancer research. He talks about what it took to finally cook the main course at the Great British Menu banquet after three years of competing - including how the third time around you feel bold enough to put a dish shaped like genitalia on the BBC, complete with a police hat as the reveal. There's also the story of how Cal once used ski-scene shower curtains as wallpaper in their staff accommodation, and how that slightly chaotic energy somehow became the foundation for one of the North East's most celebrated restaurants. He also comes clean about his love of the air fryer. And, as is tradition on Local Heroes, Cal reveals his Greggs order. Drum roll, please 🥁

EP66 | Rob Sampson | Shields, Shandies and Sausage Rolls | Local Heroes Podcast

This week on the Local Heroes podcast, Chris and Dan sit with Rob Sampson, the man behind "Gan for bait, like?" One of the North East's most-followed food voices, the conversation that wanders from Capri Sun smuggling tactics and a wonky table nicknamed Gordon, all the way to foie gras at the old Cafe 21. Rob talks us through how a lockdown creative itch, fed by Anthony Bourdain, years of writing band reviews for Narc magazine, and a hunch that nobody was telling Newcastle's food stories properly, turned into an Instagram blog, then a YouTube channel, then a 170,000-view Pickle and Peach video that changed everything. We get into the ethics of food reviewing: why he won't slag off struggling small businesses, how one sentence can undo five years of a chef's work, and why a hyped London restaurant left him cold while somewhere like St Vincent would walk a Michelin star if you picked it up and dropped it in Soho. Then it gets personal. Dropping out of two universities, running the Mill Tavern in Hebburn at 23, the panic-attack night the dodgy football boxes blew up mid-match, and the boss who laughed at him for it. And here's where it gets uncanny, Rob and Chris realise they've basically lived parallel lives. Same hospital, same year, same South Shields college, same tutors (shout out Keith and Ben), same media studies and sociology dropout arc, same brutal Thursday-night crawl from Oscars to Venue, same Smirnoff Mules, same bouncers who'd dent their own car bonnet on your head to teach you a lesson. Two lads who somehow never crossed paths but absolutely should have. We close with the important stuff: chip butties (double salt, no ketchup), the perfect cheese savoury (half mayo, half salad cream - non-negotiable), the pop man, chalk ices, Bass Shandy at the kids' disco, and a forensic breakdown of the ideal Greg's order. Sausage roll first, obviously. A proper Local Heroes one. Funny, honest, and very North East.

EP65 | Jo Feeley | Forecast, Fashion and Trend Obsession | Local Heroes Podcast

This week on Chris and Dan sit down with Jo Feeley, co-founder of TrendBible, the Newcastle based trend forecasting agency helping some of the world’s biggest brands understand what people will want next. From growing up in rural Northumberland to building an internationally respected futures and trend forecasting business, Jo shares how curiosity became a career, spotting patterns in human behaviour, culture, fashion, interiors, lifestyle, and consumer habits long before they hit the mainstream. The conversation dives into the psychology behind trends, nostalgia culture, social media influence, fashion identity, home decor, masculinity, community, and why people suddenly all start doing the same things at the same time. From Stanley Cups and skinny jeans to Stone Roses fashion, gym culture, and the rise of wellness communities, this episode explores how culture shifts beneath the surface. Jo also opens up about moving to New York to work in fashion, hustling her way into the industry, building TrendBible from the ground up, and advising major global brands on the future of consumer behaviour. Along the way, there’s plenty of Local Heroes chaos too, Greggs Empire biscuits, fish and chip shop curry sauce debates, weird dreams, bucket hats, berets in the North East, and why your sofa might actually be ruining your life. A funny, thoughtful, and unexpectedly deep conversation about identity, creativity, trends, and the future of how we live. Help support the podcast at Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/c/LocalHeroesVIP

EP64 | Laughs, Life and Lady Parts | Lauren Pattison | Local Heroes Podcast

This week Chris and Dan are joined by comedian Lauren Pattison, one of the sharpest stand-up voices to come out of the North East in the last decade. From doing her first gigs at 18 in Newcastle to becoming an Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee and touring internationally, Lauren talks honestly about the strange reality of growing up through comedy, while everyone else was off travelling, she was doing gigs in Derby and trying to survive the Fringe. We get into where her humour came from, growing up in a family where making each other laugh was second nature, discovering Billy Connolly and Only Fools and Horses young, and realising later in life that maybe she was just the funny one all along. Lauren tells us her industry stories from the Fringe, viral twitter wars, touring life, panel shows, Last One Laughing, Ross Noble, Sam Campbell and why comedians are often still laughing hardest at the dumbest things imaginable. But like all good conversations, it also spirals beautifully off track. We do a deep dive on controversial jacket potato methods, emotional support sausage rolls, dogs judging ex-boyfriend and why hot-and-cold puddings might be one of humanity’s greatest achievements. Funny, chaotic, brutally honest, and very, very Northern. Help support the podcast and join our Patreon Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/c/LocalHeroesVIP