A 60-page free weekly glossy lifestyle magazine for young London professionals is set to launch this spring.
Affair magazine is the brainchild of editor Edmund Glover – son of Independent co-founder Stephen – and publisher Hugh Hudleston. It is set to be similar to the ES magazine, free with the Evening Standard on Fridays, but for a younger audience, with hints of high-end monthlies Harper’s Bazaar and Tatler.
The magazine will be a mix of London-focused party coverage, trends, fashion and political commentary. A pilot issue tested the market in December with contributors including Independent parliamentary sketch writer Simon Carr, Stephen Glover and former Sunday Telegraph editor Sarah Sands.
Hudleston told Press Gazette: ‘The basic editorial gist is that it is exciting new young journalists backed up by big name commentators.”
The pilot copy had a distribution of 20,000, being given away on the streets of London and with airlines including Singapore Airlines, Quantas and Silverjet.
Once launched, 30,000 copies of the magazine will be distributed by merchandisers in central and southwest London, as well as with airlines and on Eurostar. Hudleston said: ‘Ultimately we want to do direct distribution, but in the beginning it will start off on the street visibly branded, like the Evening Standard. It won’t be forced in your face like London Lite or thelondonpaper.”
Hudleston and Glover met at St Andrews University, where they published a one-off magazine called The Andy. Glover spent time on the New York Observer and has contributed to the Daily Mail.
The website, affairmagazine.co.uk, will offer daily social and media news feeds as well as the opportunity to read the latest and backdated issues.
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