New Glossy Weekly Shuts After Two Issues

Just days after its launch, the glossy weekly magazine launched by former Mail On Sunday journalist Christena Appleyard, So London, has folded after just two issues.

A statement from the company reads: “There is no long term future for the title in the current marketplace.”

Reports have suggested that the inexperience of the magazine’s publisher was largely to blame for the closure, in spite of the big names that had signed up to work on or contribute to the new entry on to the market.

A media industry source told MediaGuardian.co.uk that the £2.95 weekly magazine about London property and the high life was “very impressive” but also “very ambitious”.

“Getting the advertising support every single week for a brand new title would be a difficult order,” the media buyer said.

The glossy weekly was aimed at people for whom property was “their recreational drug of choice” (see New Weekly Glossy Hits Capital’s Streets).

The magazine’s managing director was Mike Ironside, former managing director of the Mail On Sunday. Its commercial director was Mike Allen, formerly of Mirror Group Newspapers and Associated Newspapers.

The magazine was owned by Steve and Jenny Rigby, and had an initial print run of 75,000 copies. Simon Esterson, who won an award for his redesign of the New Statesman, designed the glossy, which ran at around 100 pages with a target of 70 pages of advertising, publishing 50 issues a year.

So London: www.solondon.co.uk