diff --git a/docs/settings.md b/docs/settings.md
index 140b44a..8b4975e 100644
--- a/docs/settings.md
+++ b/docs/settings.md
@@ -57,6 +57,9 @@ This setting will override the default `localhost` host
 
 This setting will override the default `9999` port
 
+### ```SWAMP_DRAGON_PUBLISH_ENABLED```
+
+If set to ```False``` it turns the publishing of changes off. Default value is ```True```.
 
 ## JavaScript settings (settings exposed to clients via JavaScript)
 
diff --git a/swampdragon/connections/sockjs_connection.py b/swampdragon/connections/sockjs_connection.py
index 2785632..78c4e7e 100644
--- a/swampdragon/connections/sockjs_connection.py
+++ b/swampdragon/connections/sockjs_connection.py
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 from .. import route_handler
 from ..sessions.sessions import get_session_store
 from ..same_origin import set_origin_connection, test_origin
+from django.utils.importlib import import_module
 import json
 
 
@@ -28,6 +29,7 @@ def is_heartbeat_enabled():
 
 
 class ConnectionMixin(object):
+
     def to_json(self, data):
         """
         If the message is a dict, return it.
@@ -44,6 +46,7 @@ def to_json(self, data):
 
 class SubscriberConnection(ConnectionMixin, SockJSConnection):
     pub_sub = None
+    user = None
 
     def __init__(self, session):
         super(SubscriberConnection, self).__init__(session)
@@ -83,6 +86,12 @@ def on_message(self, data):
             if data == {'heartbeat': '1'}:
                 self.on_heartbeat()
                 return
+            middleware_classes = getattr(settings, 'SWAMP_DRAGON_MIDDLEWARE_CLASSES', None)
+            if middleware_classes:
+                for middleware_class in middleware_classes:
+                    middleware_path, middleware_name = middleware_classes[0].rsplit('.', 1)
+                    middleware = getattr(import_module(middleware_path), middleware_name)
+                    middleware().process_request(self, data)
             handler = route_handler.get_route_handler(data['route'])
             handler(self).handle(data)
         except Exception as e:
diff --git a/swampdragon/middleware.py b/swampdragon/middleware.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..663e33f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/swampdragon/middleware.py
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+from django.utils.six import add_metaclass
+from abc import abstractmethod, ABCMeta
+
+
+@add_metaclass(ABCMeta)
+class BasicMiddleware(object):
+
+    """MiddleWare Interface for SwampDragon
+
+    Inheriting Classes should implement process_request method
+
+    Returns:
+            None (might  change in future)
+    """
+
+    def __init__(self):
+        pass
+
+    @abstractmethod
+    def process_request(self, connection, data):
+        pass
diff --git a/swampdragon/mock_middleware.py b/swampdragon/mock_middleware.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0046a1a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/swampdragon/mock_middleware.py
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+from .middleware import BasicMiddleware
+
+
+class TestMiddleware(BasicMiddleware):
+
+    """
+    Middleware sets 'dummy' variable in the connection
+    """
+
+    def __init__(self):
+        super(TestMiddleware, self).__init__()
+
+    def process_request(self, connection, data):
+        connection.dummy = True
diff --git a/swampdragon/models.py b/swampdragon/models.py
index b6a000b..403368a 100644
--- a/swampdragon/models.py
+++ b/swampdragon/models.py
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 from django.db.models import ForeignKey
+from django.conf import settings
 from .pubsub_providers.base_provider import PUBACTIONS
 from .model_tools import get_property
 from .pubsub_providers.model_publisher import publish_model
@@ -77,7 +78,13 @@ def serialize(self):
         return self._serializer.serialize()
 
     def _publish(self, action, changed_fields=None):
-        publish_model(self, self._serializer, action, changed_fields)
+        try:
+            PUBLISH_ENABLED = getattr(settings, 'SWAMP_DRAGON_PUBLISH_ENABLED', True)
+    
+            if PUBLISH_ENABLED:
+                publish_model(self, self._serializer, action, changed_fields)
+        except Exception:
+            pass  # not the best practice, but we don't want anything to fail if Redis is unaccessible...
 
     def save(self, *args, **kwargs):
         if not self.pk:
diff --git a/tests/test_subscriber_connection.py b/tests/test_subscriber_connection.py
index 4bc7529..4ff7a29 100644
--- a/tests/test_subscriber_connection.py
+++ b/tests/test_subscriber_connection.py
@@ -3,10 +3,12 @@
 from swampdragon.route_handler import BaseRouter, UnexpectedVerbException
 from swampdragon.testing.dragon_testcase import DragonTestCase
 from swampdragon import route_handler
+from django.conf import settings as django_settings
 import uuid
 
 
 class TestSession(object):
+
     def __init__(self, is_open=True):
         self.session_id = uuid.uuid4().hex
         self.is_closed = is_open is False
@@ -28,7 +30,9 @@ def say_hello(self, **kwargs):
 
 
 class TestSubscriberConnection(DragonTestCase):
+
     def setUp(self):
+        django_settings.SWAMP_DRAGON_MIDDLEWARE_CLASSES = ['swampdragon.mock_middleware.TestMiddleware']
         self.session = TestSession()
         self.connection = SubscriberConnection(self.session)
 
@@ -72,3 +76,11 @@ def test_dict_to_json(self):
         expected = {'key': 'value'}
         actual = self.connection.to_json(expected)
         self.assertEqual(expected, actual)
+
+    def test_middleware_processing(self):
+        route_handler.register(TestRouter)
+        data = {'verb': 'say_hello', 'route': TestRouter.get_name()}
+        with self.assertRaises(AttributeError):
+            self.connection.dummy
+        self.connection.on_message(data)
+        self.assertTrue(self.connection.dummy)