First look at Associated’s London Lite

Associated Newspapers drew first blood in its free newspaper war with News International today by rushing out an early version of its new free daily paper – London Lite.

A few thousand copies were distributed at key commuter points around central London at lunchtime, apparently to test distribution and production.

Associated may also have been keen to score a psycological victory over NI by being first on the streets.

The official launch date for London Lite remains next Wednesday, and NI's thelondonpaper is aiming to come out on 4 September.

Associated has emphasised that today's edition of London Lite is just a dummy. Click here to see some sample pages from London Lite.

The front page was a late-breaking story about Euan Blair being rushed into hospital with stomach pains.

Inside, London Lite reveals in a message to readers that it intends to be "an interactive paper for the internet age". And it emphasises that readers will be encouraged to contribute to the paper via the existing Evening Standard website thisislondon.co.luk.

London Lite claims to provide the fullest free entertainment guide in London, running to 19 pages, it also promises to provide "all last night's gossip and scandal" and "an amazing four-page TV listings section".

Page three features a news story about Peaches Geldof going on a fashion shoot and a review of the Arctic Monkeys in concert.

Elsewhere the news coverage looks fairly similar to the now defunct Standard Lite.
Regular features include the Wardrobe Editors (which looks likely to be a newspaper version of What Not To Wear), a Top of the Blogs blog excerpt section, a London Eye double page diary and celeb section, a section on "London tribes",a two page "City Briefing" , six pages of sport and a full page ad on the back.

One young Londoner reading the dummy title shared their first impressions with Press Gazette: "It looks like a cross between Metro and Standard Lite. I think it is frothy and female friendly – the design is bright in a good way, but it is still a bit old fashioned. If it is trying to be all things to all people it is successful, but I prefer to the Metro to this."