"His words have connected Irish people all over the globe to their culture and history, encompassing so many human emotions in the most poetic of ways."

Author Tony Parsons posted on social media: "I remember Shane MacGowan when he was in his mid-teens and coming down the Roxy in Covent Garden to bang on unattended drums in his Union jack jacket.

The musician Nick Cave called him "a true friend and the greatest songwriter of his generation," adding it was "a very sad day."

I followed The Pogues to far flung places, met Shane a few times and watched some of the most exhilarating shows I've ever witnessed," he also said on social media.

Derry Girls actor Siobhan McSweeney has said that Shane MacGowan "was the voice of London for us Irish" and said when she was scared about moving to the capital "he lured me over with songs about chancers, drinkers, lovers, poets and scoundrels".

Fairytale of New York producer Steve Lillywhite told BBC Radio 5 Live MacGowan was "truly a poet", crediting him for inventing "a new style of music that was sort of the punk attitude with traditional Irish rhythms".

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