Henry steps aside from Real Homes for internet project

Wendy Henry is leaving Cabal’s Real Homes magazine to work on a new internet project for the company.

Henry, who has seen a 7 per cent increase in circulation during her year editing Real Homes, is working on dummies for a magazine to go with an internet slimming site.

Cabal’s editorial director Sarah Bravo, who launched Real Homes in 1998, has taken the helm as editor once again.

Henry, a former editor of the News of the World and Sunday People, put the move down to "economies of scale".

"When I went to work on Real Homes it was because Sarah went off to work on internet projects, developing Sainsbury’s website. When that contract came to an end there were two of us that could edit Real Homes and that doesn’t make any sense in a small company. It’s sad because I loved the magazine but this is a big girls’ school," she said.

Henry edited the US magazine Successful Slimming for two years for Globe Publications before launching it in the UK. She put a low-fat chocolate bar on its first issue and low-calorie sweets on the second. "They were massively successful," she said. "We put a very expensive fitness video on the third and there are still hundreds of them lying around the office.

"I’ve always said that if you could do a slimming magazine that people could eat after reading, it would be a sell-out."

By Philippa Kennedy