Local publisher Sir Ray Tindle is to launch a weekly newspaper for London at the same time as reviving three defunct print titles in the capital.
The London Weekly News, a free title covering the centre of London and aimed partially at the 5m tourists who visit it each year, will hit the streets for the first time on Thursday.
At the same time, Sir Ray, pictured, is resuscitating three historic print brands first launched in Victorian times and currently defunct.
They are the Westminster and Pimlico News, first established in l857, the Kensington News, which dates from 1869, and the Chelsea News, also first published in 1857.
All three papers will appear as pullouts inside the Weekly News and also as self-contained editions within their own areas.
The initiative is being overseen by Karen Sheppard, managing director of the South London Press whose staff have produced the content for the new titles, and Philip Evans, who runs a series of Tindle-owned weeklies in the West Country.
Said Philip: “The original idea and planning came from the Chairman, Ray Tindle. He and vice chairman Wendy Craig put the proposition to Karen and myself. We have brought it to life.
“We know the risk perfectly well but I am excited about it as it’s such a positive move. Trying to solve our problem by increasing local revenue is much better than solving it by more cuts.
Added Karen: “Publishing a new newspaper is always exciting but this particular one, right in the heart of London, had unique difficulties for us at first.
“It was hugely rewarding, however, as we conquered the problems one by one. The staff involved threw themselves into it and they have loved the challenge.
“Planning the approach to organising an entirely new paper plus resuscitating three old ones hasn’t been easy but we’ve survived! If it works it could help all our other papers in London.
“Using staff this way with a chance of replacing lost revenue must be worth trying – and its exciting, too! I’ve spent many years in local newspapers but this has been the biggest challenge of my career.”
Sir Ray commented: “Philip and Karen and the staff have done a tremendous job. They have exceeded my expectations, and Wendy and I are well pleased with what they have produced.
“The papers are magnificent, particularly bearing in mind we only gave them four weeks from our first mention to them of the project.”
The Tindle group has now launched 23 new newspapers since the start of the recession in 2008 and has also bought around 20 other titles in the same period.
Sir Ray added: “Weeklies, in my opinion, have a great future, publishing local news in depth.”
Go Sir Ray!
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Same old question: How many jobs will this create or is all the extra work going to be done by existing staff?
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Central London is possibly the least print-conscious place in Britain. Would the Reading area not have been better?
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Tindle should be concentrating on the future, newspapers online easily navigated to and available to all to read! Not over fussy websites just newspapers.
Newspaper Apps!!!
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The Westminster and Pimlico News was my local newspaper and it was a crying shame when it was killed off. I’m certainly looking forward to seeing what is produced here.
despite what non local people think, there are about many thousands of residents in Victoria and Pimlico. If Tindle can target them by providing content that reflects their lives, then they are halfway there.
Good luck to all involved.
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Let’s see how long these last… the local advertising market is declining in print
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Great picture. Was Sir Ray ever on the Fast Show?
“Launching newspapers in London? With my reputation?”
“Reviving long-lost weeklies is like making love to a beautiful woman.”
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At least its something new in print. Good luck to them.
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Just … why?
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Sir Ray Tindle is determined to be the last man standing in print. Good luck to him. Online is fine, but there is still a big market out there for newspapers you can actually hold in your hands.
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It’s a funny old world. This website is basically about print journalism – but what do the comments say?
They say:
“the least print-conscious place in Britain”. I’ve no idea if this is true, but look at how many copies of Metro are picked up each day.
They say:
“Tindle should be concentrating on the future, newspapers online”. But people are more likely to read a newspaper on paper than they are to read a newspaper online.
They say:
“the local advertising market is declining in print”. Maybe it is, but Newsquest have shown that you can raise the cover price. Does it really matter if advertising revenue is a smaller percentage of the total income? The adverts shouldn’t be the main reason why people buy local papers.
Come on guys, if so many of you are so negative about the future, you might just find that there isn’t one. On the other hand, for local papers that make an effort, connect with the readers, tell the truth, publish proper articles and take an interest in quality design, there’s a huge future out there.
It’s up to you to decide whether or not you want to be part of it.
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I agree with Up North that being negative about this industry doesn’t always help, but having been bitten by Tindle I know he’ll not be throwing lots of staff, advertising or journalists at this to make this work, and give it five months and it’ll be amalgamated into a version of the SLP with a masthead that is a bastardised version of the two titles’ names.
I just wish all the staff slogging their guts on this good luck.
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Online and Existing print titles to mirror one another, supporting print not disbanding one for the other.
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This is fantastic news – having worked for the pioneer of Free Newspapers Lionel Pickering for 20 years, this is a pleasure to read –
WELL DONE MR TINDLE ….
Having left an awfull group here in Nottingham, – which destroyed everything we stood for when they took us over – i say …..
Go for it guys !!!!
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All well and good, but Tindle will be using the overworked and underskilled staff who currently bash together his risible South London Press.
If he was hiring new, talented, capable journalists to launch these papers, he might be on to something.
As it is, the old fraud is just pulling the wool over your eyes. How much longer are we going to let him get away with it?
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Ex-local, Fleet Street – not sure you have got your facts right re who is putting the new titles together.
You are right in one part of your sentence “…overworked and underskilled staff who currently bash together his risible South London Press.” and that is they are overworked but NOT underskilled – if that’s even a word.
And the titles are risible are they – don’t make me laugh
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I think you have got your facts all wrong, Ex-local, Fleet Street
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