Thelondonpaper
Front page of The London Paper
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| Type | Weekday free newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Tabloid |
| Owner(s) | News International |
| Publisher | NI Free Newspapers Ltd |
| Editor | Stefano Hatfield |
| Founded | 4 September 2006 |
| Ceased publication | 18 September 2009 |
| Circulation | approx. 500,000 (July 2009) |
| Website | www |
The London Paper (stylised as thelondonpaper) was a free daily newspaper, published by NI Free Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News International (who also own the companies that publish The Sun and The Times). It was available from Monday to Friday each week in Central London from 4 September 2006 until 18 September 2009 (its final print-run before closure).
The paper was the first London newspaper to be published in direct competition with the Evening Standard since 1987 and Robert Maxwell's short-lived London Daily News. It was also the first newspaper to be launched by News International (the publisher's other titles were bought many years after initial publication).
The week before The London Paper was first published, Associated Newspapers, the publisher of the Evening Standard, re-branded their existing free lunchtime newspaper Standard Lite to London Lite and changed the publishing time to include the evening rush-hour, a move that was widely seen as a 'spoiler' to protect against the launch of thelondonpaper.
The paper, edited by Stefano Hatfield, was targeted towards young readers, with emphasis on celebrity and more light hearted news, there was little analysis of news stories and the paper used lots of images and colour. As a consequence of the launch of The London Paper as well as Associated Newspaper's own London Lite, the Evening Standard attempted to go more upmarket, emphasising the difference between the free newspapers and itself by adding the tagline "The Quality Newspaper" across the top of the front page, this changed on 12 October 2009 when, after a long history of paid circulation, the Evening Standard became a free sheet, replacing the London Lite. The London Paper was also the home of Em, the popular cartoon strip later featured in The Sun, and the City Girl column, written by novelist, Alexandra Brown
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