Buzzcocks frontman Steve Diggle has opened up on brutal crime outside his pub, which has included horror stabbings.

The grim goings on at his local pub in the capital has inspired a song in his latest album.

The songs are “like a newspaper or a Dickens novel, full of characters I’ve observed,” he says. The dubby Heavy Streets was inspired by crime near his north London local.

He said: “Every Friday a different bloke comes in and asks if he can use a phone, because he’s had his mobile nicked outside. Usually it’s a dad who’s popped out to collect a takeaway. There have been stabbings too, heavy times."

The punk legend added: “Street crime has always been part of city life, but it’s getting worse. And what’s worse is that people seem to accept it as a fact of life, along with war and homelessness. I wanted to reflect that darkness. So the songs aren’t all about falling in love now, I wanted to put density into the lyrics, and challenge expectations with the words and the style of some of the songs.”

Steve plays an acoustic guitar on All Gone To War, about Gaza, Ukraine and Nigeria, while The Greatest Of Them All is a ballad inspired by a homeless girl in Camden – “She lived in a doorway and sadly died,” he says quietly. “It’s an anthem for her.”

*Attitude Adjustment by the Buzzcocks is out now.