SoberNotMature - Episode 226 (Lord Ashley - Now Welcome In Any Fine Establishment)SoberNotMature - Episode 226 (Lord Ashley - Now Welcome In Any Fine Establishment)
Sober Not Mature
Lord Ashley Phipps-Warren talks with Bill and Mike about his journey from violent street drinking, prison and homelessness to early sobriety, spirituality and helping others. The conversation mixes dark humour with brutal honesty, centred around his "inner upgrade" mindset and trilogy of recovery books.
1:37:44•20 Jun 2026
From Town Menace to Inner Upgrade: Lord Ashley on Getting Sober and Starting Again
Episode Overview
- Alcohol can rapidly shift from fun to pure consequences, and for some people one drink is never enough.
- Recognising yourself as an alcoholic is both a curse and a strength, because it opens the door to a solution.
- Spiritual practices and a sense of purpose can provide structure and motivation in early sobriety.
- Rebuilding trust with family, especially children, takes consistent sober action rather than words.
- Sharing honestly about past chaos – whether in meetings, talks or books – can help others see that change is possible for them too.
“It's our curse and it's our superpower, because the curse is we're Alcoholics and the superpower is we can recognise we're Alcoholics. We found the solution.”
Curious about how others navigate their sobriety journey? This raw, funny and very sweary chat on Sober Not Mature follows Lord Ashley Phipps-Warren (Ash), an author and drug and alcohol recovery specialist from Torquay, as he spells out how booze took him from a box of wine at 12 to prison, homelessness and being banned from just about every pub along the English Riviera.
Ash talks frankly about becoming “the pisshead of Torquay”, violent blackouts, street drinking and an eight-year prison sentence after a brutal alcohol-fuelled assault. There’s dark gallows humour – chairs through restaurant windows, police tasers that barely register through the booze – but he never glamorises any of it. Instead, he keeps coming back to that twisted pull so many relate to: hating how alcohol made him behave, yet loving how it made him feel.
The conversation then shifts to what changed. Now two years sober, Ash shares how spirituality, self-discipline and what he calls “the inner upgrade” helped him rebuild a life he’d written off. He’s reunited with his kids, has a stable home and spends his time speaking in schools, colleges, prisons and rehabs, as well as writing a three-part book series: *The Inner Upgrade* (his transformation), *Before The Inner Upgrade* (the chaos years) and *After The Inner Upgrade* (life in sobriety).
Ash is open about still figuring out who he is without alcohol, and the hosts, Bill and Mike, chime in with their own long-term sobriety experience, reminding him that feeling awkward in early recovery is completely normal. The tone is honest, sarcastic and surprisingly warm – like sitting in on a late-night meeting where nothing is off-limits and everyone swears like sailors.
If you’re wondering whether change is still possible after years of damage, this one might leave you asking yourself what your own “inner upgrade” could look like.
Do you want to link to this podcast?
Get the buttons here!
More From This Show
The latest episodes from the same podcast.
Related Episodes
Similar episodes from other shows in the catalogue.