Associated prepares to close the London Lite

Associated Newspapers is in talks over the future of the London Lite.

The national media division of the Daily Mail and General Trust today announced that it has entered a period of consultation over the London freesheet, which “may result in closure”.

The future of the title has been under question since News International closed its rival free evening title thelondonpaper and the London Evening Standard started being distributed for free.

In September, the Rupert Murdoch owned publisher announced plans to scrap thelondonpaper, saying the company wanted to “focus investment on core titles”.

Less than a month later, the Standard‘s new 75.1% shareholder – Russian oligarch Alexander Lebedev – unveiled plans to start distributing 600,000 free copies the Evening Standard across London every day.

At the time, Associated, which owns the remaining 24.9% stake in the Standard, agreed to the title going free and said it was “just another development in the mix” as far as the future of the London Lite was concerned.

However, the publishing group said the title has been under review since the closure of thelondonpaper and today confirmed it is in consultation with 36 London Lite employees about potentially scrapping the freesheet.

Steve Auckland, managing director of Associated Newspapers Free Division, said: “The latest development in the London afternoon free newspaper space dictates that we look again at the future of London Lite.

“Despite reaching a large audience with an excellent editorial format, we are concerned about the commercial viability in this highly competitive area.”

In the latest ABC release, for August 2009, the London Lite‘s circulation remained static at a total of 400,000.