Generations of Londoners have relied on charts and entertainment magazines to plan nights out, cycle magazines and read reviews of what was happening in the capital – but the final prints will now be printed in late June. Time Out was originally a paid magazine, but became a free publication in 2012, as the Internet undermined its traditional business model by making it easy to find event listings online. It survived for another decade as a diminished, ad-supported publication – but as a magazine that promoted travel opportunities and was picked up by commuters, it struggled during the pandemic when people were working from home and spaces were closed. . The parent company of Time Out said that now it will focus on its online activities. Photo: M4OS Photos / Alamy The parent company of Time Out said the pandemic had accelerated a “transformation that was already underway” and would now focus on its online listings as well as branded grocery stores around the world in cities such as Lisbon and New York. A Time Out spokesman said he was consulting with staff about the print publication about possible job losses. Free prints have become more difficult in recent years due to a number of factors, such as advertisers taking money out of the form, commuters becoming more likely to spend time on their phones and the rising cost of paper – which is growing rapidly in the hundreds of thousands. copies must be printed. The men’s magazine ShortList and the music newspaper NME have closed their physical editions in recent years, while the London-based Evening Standard newspaper has suffered significant losses. Time Out was founded by Tony Elliott in 1968 as part of a wave of publications that sprang up the era, initially containing radical political articles and investigative journalism. After retaining ownership until 2010, it allowed foreign investment from a privately held equity firm that allowed the company to expand into other companies. After his death in 2020, the company described Eliot as a “visionary publisher” who was “a tireless champion of the city’s culture.”
