Ronan O'Shea

Ronan O'Shea is a freelance journalist, copy-writer and sub-editor. Click here to view his portfolio and to find contact information.


London
United Kingdom

Ronan J O'Shea; freelance journalist based in London with a focus on travel and lifestyle. Bylines include National Geographic Traveller, NY Post, The Independent, Lonely Planet, Escapism Magazine, The Guardian (forthcoming), Lad Bible, Hotel F&B Magazine, Talkspace and more. contact ronanosheajcl@gmail.com for business enquiries

Square Mile and Foodism

While working for Square Mile, I regularly contributed to Square Mile and Foodism magazines. Square Mile has been the City of London's top lifestyle title for ten years, and currently has an ABC of 59,612. It is targeted towards executives in the financial district of London. Foodism magazine was launched in 2015 and is London's largest food and drink magazine, with a circulation of 108,950 (ABC verified) copies distributed free throughout the capital. 

In addition to regularly sub-editing both magazines, I also wrote short pieces for both, some of which are linked below.

One of my regular contributions to Foodism was to come up with amusing ideas for our monthly infographics, which were always related to food. In Foodism 7, I came up with the idea regarding bullet coffee (bottom Page 11) and liaised with the design team regarding how it should best be displayed.

Another regular feature which I wrote for was the Come in, We're Open section, in which I was tasked with coming up with ideas for witty restaurant names, or other food-related jokes. Foodism 6 (Page 15) features three 'hipster' restaurants we wanted to see in reality. I also wrote the same piece for Foodism 5 and Foodism 4. In Foodism 4, I was also tasked with writing an advertorial for the oriental sauce brand Lee Kum Kee. This gave me an insight into the difference between feature based journalism and writing for paying clients.

In addition to proofreading and sub-editing parts of each month's issue of Square Mile, I regularly wrote the City Index feature, a humorous summary of various ups and downs that had taken place in the City over the previous month. I wrote this particular feature in the above issue of Square Mile, and issues 107 (Page 23) and 106 (Page19).

In June 2015, myself and my then Festival Baby colleague were asked to utilise our expertise in order to write a feature in Square Mile about music festivals, and the best VIP packages for the summer. It was an interesting challenge as, although we knew much about festivals, we were writing for an entirely different demographic, and therefore in a different tone. (See pages 82-7)