Johnston Press has launched a free weekly newspaper for the growing population of young professionals living in Leeds city centre. City Lite will carry features and entertainment coverage from the Yorkshire Evening Post, including the previous day’s leisure supplement Scene, and will be distributed every Friday afternoon.
The controlled circulation paper, which will initially be distributed to 7,000 new city and riverside apartments, is targeted at affluent readers in their 20s and 30s.
Evening Post editor Paul Napier said: ‘Leeds used to be a rough, tough and dull industrial city, but now it is increasingly full of high-rise, very plush pads. The news going into City Lite covers the sort of stuff those people are interested in. We won’t be covering news about schools, pot holes and community activity, which is the bread and butter of normal regional papers. These readers are far more interested in going to clubs and posh restaurants. It’s not the plan at this stage to launch a free edition of the Yorkshire Evening Post – this is a different thing, a controlled, closed market and we are very pleased with what the Evening Post is doing in Leeds.’Napier is confident the distribution of City Lite will not erode sales of the Evening Post, as it is aimed at people who do not generally buy the paid-for title and is distributed once a week.
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