A pioneering weekly business journal launched nearly three years ago has produced its final edition.

Crain Communications today announced it was closing Crain’s Manchester Business – the first local weekly business journal to be published in the UK.

The publication had a circulation of 11,500 among the Manchester business community and its owners acknowledged its success in capturing the “must-know” news and information in the city.

However it failed to match that success in the advertising market and the publishers have now decided that yesterday’s issue will be the last.

The news was announced on its website with a statement from Chris Crain, senior vice president of Crain Communications Inc and editor-in-chief of the Manchester operation.

It said: “While we have been pleased with the support received from Crain’s Manchester Business readers from the beginning of the project, ultimately the limited support from key advertising sectors has made the project unsustainable.

“When we launched in August 2007, we introduced a new concept to the UK, based on a successful US weekly business publication model.

“Editor Stephen Brauner created a highly useful product that was met with great excitement from the Greater Manchester business community because it captured the must-know news and information for the coming business week.

The statement added: “In a recessionary environment that withered marketing budgets around the globe, Associate Publisher Kathryn Toledano and her sales team managed to book 130 different advertisers into the publication.

“Kathryn’s creativity, intelligence and sheer determination provided a stabilizing effect to the business even in its rockiest times.”