Garside: returning to London
Veteran Fleet Street executive Charles Garside, who left newspapers six years ago to manage a hotel in Cumbria, is back as a consultant managing editor of the Daily Mail, writes Jean Morgan.
Garside, a former editor of The European and deputy editor of The Times and the Sunday Express, is to work closely with managing editor Lawrie Sear, particularly on the budget.
He arrived at the Kensington headquarters of the Mail last week to read in and meet the staff after being approached by editor-in-chief Paul Dacre.
It must have been a tempting offer. Garside said: “I’ve been offered other jobs during that six years, but in football terms, this is like being asked to help manage Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea combined.”
He continued to do consultancy work and retained his flat in London while running the Miller Howe Hotel and will now reverse his work pattern to spend more time in the capital, while his team manage the Windermere hotel.
Although Garside has never worked in the Mail’s current building, he has visited frequently and knows many of the journalists, in particular executive editor Robin Esser, who was his editor at the Sunday Express, and John Bryant, who succeeded him at The European.
Esser said: “We are extremely lucky and glad to have him.”
This time Garside did not have to apply for the job – he was famous in the Sixties for advertising his services in Press Gazette after he left the Sunday Express.
Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog
