London’s Evening Standard

[najaB]

Are there any real evening newspapers left anywhere in the country? As above, the MEN comes out in the morning, as do one or two other former evening papers.

I don't know if it still a true evening newspaper, but the Evening Telegraph (the Tele/Tully) in Dundee is only available from the afternoon.

 

[Jimini]

Cover price was always a minority contribution to newspaper revenue, and was almost wholly consumed by the distribution chain. The actual writing and production was paid for by advertising. Hence the fall-off in this (it has transferred to the Internet, all those ads you have just seen on your way here) has led to the current position.

A newsagent shop owner told me long ago that although he got some income from paper sales, justifying the front counter space taken up, the main advantage was bringing people into the shop to buy other higher margin items as well, in particular cigarettes. That's another part of early morning sales which has shrunk.

It's roughly 35%, split between the wholesaler and the retailer. So publishers still trouser ~65% of cover price.

 

[Hadders]

How times change.

Getting the train into Kings Cross in the morning peak, you can count the number of people reading a newspaper on one hand. Those that do read a newspaper are reading the Metro - not a paid for newspaper to be seen!

Back in the early 2000s I was an Area Manager for a large retail chain who acquired a chain of newsagents and I suddenly found myself responsible for the Station Kiosk on Platform 4 at Harpenden station. A fascinating place with many tales to tell but it had the largest sales of the Financial Times in Hertfordshire - 120 copies a day, and sold over 300 copies of The Times. Can even buy the FT or Times at Harpenden these days?

 

[Richardr]

I don't know if it still a true evening newspaper, but the Evening Telegraph (the Tele/Tully) in Dundee is only available from the afternoon.

I had a search around, and the only ones I could see left that are true evening newspapers all seem to be in Scotland. I assume some of the local news there isn't covered by other media.

 

[Ivor]

With its four(?) daily editions, the West End Final being the last, its content was generally serious, factual and well reported. Its supplements were good too.

I forgot about several editions a day, that reminded me you would often see people waiting late afternoon/early evening at newsagents for The West End Final to arrive not wanting to buy the previous edition so they had the very latest news.

 

[Jimini]

I forgot about several editions a day, that reminded me you would often see people waiting late afternoon/early evening at newsagents for The West End Final to arrive not wanting to buy the previous edition so they had the very latest news.

I think it was five by the turn of the century, but I'm struggling to remember the names of all of them. Went something like:

• News Extra
• City Extra
• Late Prices
• West End Final
• West End Final Extra

I'll take a look when I'm back in the office on Monday.

How times change.

Back in the early 2000s I was an Area Manager for a large retail chain who acquired a chain of newsagents and I suddenly found myself responsible for the Station Kiosk on Platform 4 at Harpenden station. A fascinating place with many tales to tell but it had the largest sales of the Financial Times in Hertfordshire - 120 copies a day, and sold over 300 copies of The Times. Can even buy the FT or Times at Harpenden these days?

Indeed. Back at the turn of the century, the FT had a circulation (print) of over 500k; now it's down to 109,868 (and 57,280 of those are sold abroad). Newsagent sales are now a paltry 12,068 per day! That said, they now have 1.2m digital subscribers. A sign of the times, you could say.

Back in my early 20s (around the turn of the century), I lived in Tooting and commuted to Canary Wharf. The sea of pink on the jubilee line on the way in was always something to behold, and similarly the vendors outside CW station after work did an absolutely roaring trade flogging the Standard for the journey home!

 

[Taunton]

Yes, our office had, only in 2019, laid out every morning on the reception table, the FT and the Telegraph, along with the local rag and a few of the current industry trade magazines. Covid put paid to that.

Incidentally, our (British expat) agent in Singapore always liked, when on the odd occasion one or the other of us visited him, to have brought out several of the recent day's Telegraphs, whereupon he would apparently do the crosswords in the days following. His (Singaporean) wife found this all most amusing.

 

[adc82140]

I remember 3 editions in the 90s- City Prices, Late Prices Extra and West End Final. City Prices would appear at around lunchtime.

I think for a while Metro and ES were owned by the same people, so the following day's Metro (free) contained a lot of recycled items from the previous evening's Standard (paid for)

 

[Busaholic]

Anyone remember the brief war between DMG (London Lite) and Rupert Murdoch (thelondonpaper), shortly before the Standard went free? You had >1m copies of the Metro kicking about in town from the morning, and then ~800k of each of the two evening freebies landed mid to late afternoon. You could barely see any seats on the tube because of the crazy amount of discarded newspapers everywhere!

Even London buses in the West End and City had masses of these - must have been a real pain for any driver attempting to clear them at termini. Of course, texting on your mobile wasn't possible then, so everyone's (usually) inane conversations made the contents of these mostly low-content offerings a welcome distraction.

 

[Belperpete]

Even the Metro is getting very thin these days compared to what it once was. They stopped doing the cartoons, I suppose because they couldn't afford the syndication costs. I still get it for the Sudokus.

There have been some very good cartoon strips in the newspapers over the years. The Dilbert cartoons, for example. It would be sad if the demise of the papers led to the demise of this form of humour..

 

[Rheoman]

As a 15 year old back in early 1977 , the newsagent I worked for in the mornings marking up and delivering papers asked me if I fancied helping out on the Saturday final scores dispatch run that week. I was picked up in a Ford Transit from Rayners Lane Station and we headed towards The Target near Northolt where we awaited the incoming delivery from Fleet Street.
A van flew into the car park, doors were opened and bundles of freshly printed copies soon filled our Transit.

Then it was off at breakneck speed with me in the back until we screeched to a stop a couple of minutes later with someone from the front shouting “2 ( bundles) off here” at a tube kiosk or newsagent or however many were required. This continued for the next 45 minutes until our load was gone.

I think it put me off travelling in a Transit for life but at the same time was good preparation for my first ride on a class 81 eighteen months later as a young driver’s assistant !

 

[Jimini]

As a 15 year old back in early 1977 , the newsagent I worked for in the mornings marking up and delivering papers asked me if I fancied helping out on the Saturday final scores dispatch run that week. I was picked up in a Ford Transit from Rayners Lane Station and we headed towards The Target near Northolt where we awaited the incoming delivery from Fleet Street.
A van flew into the car park, doors were opened and bundles of freshly printed copies soon filled our Transit.

Then it was off at breakneck speed with me in the back until we screeched to a stop a couple of minutes later with someone from the front shouting “2 ( bundles) off here” at a tube kiosk or newsagent or however many were required. This continued for the next 45 minutes until our load was gone.

I think it put me off travelling in a Transit for life but at the same time was good preparation for my first ride on a class 81 eighteen months later as a young driver’s assistant !

A great recollection — thanks for sharing

 

[Rheoman]

A great recollection — thanks for sharing

Thank you. The original post about the newspaper made me stop and think about how much simple everyday things we tok for granted has either changed or sadly disappeared over the years.

My dad was a milkman for Express Dairies in the early 1970’s and he delivered 1200 pints a day , 7 days a week around Ruislip Manor and was in competition with Co op and Unigate .
Nowadays here in Milton Keynes we have one dairy delivering only 2 days a week where we live and I’d be surprised if the milk float has 500 pints on it.

 

[infobleep]

When I use to commute through central London, I use to enjoy trying to pick the West End Final edition and West Final edition of the Evening Standard and comparing them?

If you are confused then that is intended. After the West End Final edition was published a revised West End Final edition would be printed and given out at some central London locations, with later news or updated news.

Only some pages would be updated and the rest would remain the same. Both versions were given the same title of West End Final edition, even though one edition wasn't final.

There might be times when only the West End Final edition was published and not the West End Final edition.