Little over a fortnight after the second of London’s freesheets published its final edition a group of unknown investors is planning to launch a new free title, the London Weekly, in the capital.
The new freesheet will distribute 250,000 copies each Friday and Saturday outside rail and tube stations – according to documents seen by The Guardian.
A media pack prepared for potential advertisers says publisher Global Publishing Group has raised more then £5.5m to launch the title, an accompanying website and a web radio and TV station.
No launch date has yet been confirmed but rumours have circulated that The London Weekly could launch as early as February.
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It is also likely to be similar in editorial content to the now defunct thelondonpaper and London Lite, with the media pack promising “entertainment, light politics, music, sports’and around 30 per cent of the content generated by readers.
The Guardian claims a degree of mystery surrounds the paper’s backers as Global Publishing Group is not registered at Companies House and the media document contains no information about funding for the project.
Launch would put The London Weekly in direct competition with Alexander Lebedev’s London Evening Standard, which dropped its 50p cover price and went free last month.
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The Standard could be facing new competition a matter of months after it saw the back of its nearest rivals.
Daily Mail & General Trust pulled its loss-making afternoon freesheet London Lite on 13 November following News International‘s decision to close its freesheet, thelondonpaper, in September.
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