![\"Steph](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0_steph-johnson-from-scouse-bird-shop.jpg\")
Steph Johnson opened the Scouse Bird Shop in 2013(Image: Steph Johnson)<\/p>\nSteph Johnson’s shop has become ‘part of the furniture’ in Liverpool, thanks to its attitude and willingness to ‘go out on a limb’Steph Johnson opened the Scouse Bird Shop in 2013(Image: Steph Johnson)<\/p>\n
When Steph Johnson set up a novelty Twitter account in 2012, she never imagined it would become her career. The Aintree<\/a> mum, now 40, was stuck in an office job she hated when she started posting self deprecating observations about \u201cScouse bird problems.\u201d<\/p>\n She told the ECHO<\/a>: \u201cIt was kind of a happy accident. I just started sending a few tweets about Scouse bird problems and they just exploded. Within the first week of the account, I had 10,000 followers.\u201d<\/p>\n What began as jokes online soon snowballed into something much bigger. The following year, Steph brought out the first ‘Scouse Bird Diary’ – a planner that mixed organisation with Scouse humour – and it quickly became the cornerstone of her brand.<\/p>\n She continued: \u201cThe following year, I brought out notebooks, mugs, pens – and it sort of just expanded and expanded. I\u2019ve been doing it now since 2013.\u201d<\/p>\n The Scouse Bird Shop grew out of that early success, carrying the spirit of her Twitter<\/a> persona into products that are part useful, part hilarious and rooted in Liverpool attitude. Steph laughs: \u201cIt was almost a parody – not in a mean way but in a fun way which laughs at ourselves. I don\u2019t do all of the typical \u2018Scouse bird\u2019 things; I don\u2019t wear fake tan, I\u2019ve never been out in pyjamas and rollers. But it\u2019s about embracing it, not taking yourself too seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n For her, being a Scouse bird isn’t about stereotypes. She said: \u201cWe don\u2019t all dress the same or even sound the same – someone from Kirkby<\/a> will sound different to someone from Crosby<\/a>. It\u2019s more about the attitude where we don\u2019t take any s**t, we\u2019ve got big hearts, and we see through people\u2019s bull***t. That\u2019s the string that holds us all together.\u201d<\/p>\n That mix of honesty and defiance runs through the shop. Steph is known for speaking her mind, particularly when it comes to politics. She explained: \u201cI\u2019m not afraid to go out on a limb because Liverpool\u2019s not afraid to go out on a limb. While the rest of the country are out there voting the Tories in time and time again, we\u2019re like, \u2018No. We\u2019re left-wing and we\u2019re staying left-wing.\u2019<\/p>\n “It\u2019s the same with the shop – some businesses stay quiet because they don\u2019t want to lose customers, but I\u2019m like, \u2018I don\u2019t give a f***\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n That bluntness hasn\u2019t stopped the Scouse Bird Shop finding customers far beyond Merseyside. Steph said: \u201cI ship all over the country. I\u2019ve got a big group of regular customers in Carlisle, and another in Connah\u2019s Quay in North Wales.<\/p>\n “Not every single item is Scouse-based. I\u2019ve branched out into political, offensive and relatable collections.\u201d<\/p>\n Among the most memorable requests was a twist on her popular \u201cF*** the Tories\u201d mugs. Steph explained: \u201cSomeone asked me to make it into a \u2018Never f*** a Tory\u2019 mug”.<\/p>\n For several years Steph ran physical shops, starting in Aintree<\/a> before moving to Crosby and finally into Liverpool city centre<\/a>. But when she was pregnant with her second child during the pandemic, she decided it was time to step away. She said: \u201cThe rents were going up, it was around the time the gas and electricity started going through the roof. I just didn\u2019t need it and I went back online.<\/p>\n “Now I work from a big studio in my garden.\u201d<\/p>\n She admits she misses chatting with customers in person, but the flexibility of being online suits her better: \u201cMy turnover is a lot less now, but I\u2019ve got more freedom. If I want to shut the shop for the day and take the kids somewhere, I can.\u201d<\/p>\n Her daily routine now balances business and family: the school run and gym in the morning, then coffee, orders and admin until five, when she switches back to mum mode. It might not make her a millionaire, but it\u2019s a life she has built on her own terms.<\/p>\n She added: \u201cI\u2019d like it to be around so my kids, if they wanted to, could take it over. Making the products is fun. You\u2019re not going to be a millionaire, but I make alright money from it. When I started the Twitter account, I said I wanted to be a bit like the Liverpool ECHO<\/a> – just part of the furniture. And I suppose I am now. I\u2019ll probably do it until I retire.\u201d<\/p>\n