View all newsletters
Sign up for our free email newsletters

Fighting for quality news media in the digital age.

  1. News
May 23, 2019updated 30 Sep 2022 7:49am

Financial Times returns to historical City home after 30 years

By James Walker

The Financial Times has moved back to Bracken House in the City of London 30 years after it left the historical building.

FT journalists returned to the business newspaper’s former home on Monday from the One Southwark Bridge building in London where they have worked since 1989.

The FT originally spent 30 years at Bracken House, a Grade II listed building near St Paul’s Cathedral, from 1959.

Bracken House has undergone major refurbishment with a new roof terrace, internal courtyards and larger entrance halls among changes to the 200,000 square foot office.

The FT said in a statement that the refurbishment by John Robertson Architects which started in 2016 has seen Bracken House “transformed from a semi-industrial newspaper printing works into a bright office space fit for a thriving digital news organisation”.

FT chief executive John Ridding said: “When the FT left Bracken House more than 30 years ago we never imagined we would return and no one could have foreseen the disruption about to be unleashed by the digital disruption of news media.

“So, to return home having just burst through 1m paying readers, the highest level in our 130-year history, demonstrates the dynamism and success of our transformation.”

Content from our partners
How PA Media is helping newspapers make the digital transition
Publishing on the open web is broken, how generative AI could help fix it
Impress: Regulation, arbitration and complaints resolution

He added that the FT looked “forward to continued global growth from our new state of the art HQ”.

The building, named after the modern FT’s founder Brendan Bracken, was first designed by Sir Albert Richardson in 1959.

It was built halfway between the business centre of the City and the newspaper hub of Fleet Street to house the FT at a time of “rapid growth” and with pink sandstone to match the newspaper’s iconic coloured pages.

The FT’s move back to Bracken House follows the sale of its former headquarters at One Southwark Bridge late last year.

Former FT owner Pearson sold the building by the Thames for £115m to M&G Real Estate.

Japanese publisher Nikkei bought the FT from Pearson in late 2015 for £844m.

The newspaper announced last month that it had reached 1m paying readers a year ahead of schedule and 17 years after it first introduced a paywall.

Digital subscriptions account for three quarters of the title’s circulation, with 70 per cent of its readers based outside the UK.

Picture: FT

Topics in this article :

Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog

Select and enter your email address Weekly insight into the big strategic issues affecting the future of the news industry. Essential reading for media leaders every Thursday. Your morning brew of news about the world of news from Press Gazette and elsewhere in the media. Sent at around 10am UK time. Our weekly does of strategic insight about the future of news media aimed at US readers. A fortnightly update from the front-line of news and advertising. Aimed at marketers and those involved in the advertising industry.
  • Business owner/co-owner
  • CEO
  • COO
  • CFO
  • CTO
  • Chairperson
  • Non-Exec Director
  • Other C-Suite
  • Managing Director
  • President/Partner
  • Senior Executive/SVP or Corporate VP or equivalent
  • Director or equivalent
  • Group or Senior Manager
  • Head of Department/Function
  • Manager
  • Non-manager
  • Retired
  • Other
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
Thank you

Thanks for subscribing.

Websites in our network