Scout London, the online guide to London events and entertainment, is launching a new weekly print magazine with the creation of five editorial jobs.
The free magazine, which is being launched in March, will be distributed every Tuesday and will have an initial print run of 125,000.
Half of the copies will be handed out at tube and railway stations and the rest distributed through street bins, retailers, hotels, health clubs and offices.
Each week Scout London hopes to commission a different artist or designer to design the cover.
An editor-in-chief and a four-strong editorial team will work on the magazine full-time, with contributions from paid freelancers.
Jim Zambrano, publishing director and founder of Scout London, said: ‘Positively populist, Scout will offer the best of what London has to offer, and looks to bring new musicians, artists, venues and brands to the mainstream.
‘ShortList, Stylist and Sport really paved the way and created a market for freemium magazines, and the public and advertisers have embraced them wholeheartedly.
‘What Scout London looks to do is build on this success and create a populist title that attracts men and women across a broad spectrum of ages, something that hasn’t been done before.
‘Scout is using that model, tweaking it for the mass market, keeping it local – and by local we mean seven million people – and producing a quality magazine that readers and advertisers expect and deserve.”
As well as targeting commuters, the magazine hopes to appeal to tourists and the influx of visitors to London during the Olympic games.
Zambrano said that there would be some overlap between the magazine and the website, but that they would remain distinct.
Published independently by Scout Media, the magazine plans to launch an events arm within the next couple of years.
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