 | |
 Evening Standard cover (19 March 2020) | |
| Type | Regionalfree newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Tabloid |
| Owners |
|
| Editor | Anna van Praagh (acting) |
| Founded | 21 May 1827; 198 years ago (1827-05-21) |
| Language | English |
| Headquarters | Alphabeta, 14–18Finsbury Square,London |
| Circulation | 150,154 (as of August 2025)[2] |
| ISSN | 2041-4404 |
| OCLC number | 1058501423 |
| Website | www |
The London Standard, formerly theEvening Standard (1904–2024) and originallyThe Standard (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributedfree of charge inLondon, England. It is printed intabloid format, and also has an online edition.
In October 2009, after being bought by Russian businessmanAlexander Lebedev, the paper ended a 180-year history ofpaid circulation and multiple editions every day, and became a free newspaper publishing a single print edition every weekday, doubling its circulation as part of a change in its business plan.
On 29 May 2024, the newspaper announced that it would reduce print publication to once weekly, after nearly 200 years of daily publication, as it had become unprofitable. Daily publication ended on 19 September 2024. The first weekly edition was published on 26 September 2024 under the new name ofThe London Standard.
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The newspaper was founded by barristerStanley Lees Giffard on 21 May 1827 asThe Standard.[3] The early owner of the paper was Charles Baldwin. Under the ownership ofJames Johnstone,The Standard became a morning paper from 29 June 1857.The Evening Standard was published from 11 June 1859.The Standard gained eminence for its detailed foreign news, notably its reporting of events of theAmerican Civil War (1861–1865), theAustro-Prussian War of 1866, and theFranco-Prussian War of 1870, all contributing to a rise in circulation.[4] By the end of the 19th century, the evening edition eclipsed its morning counterpart.[citation needed]
BothThe Standard and theEvening Standard were acquired byC. Arthur Pearson in 1904.[5] In May 1915,Edward Hulton bought theEvening Standard fromDavison Dalziel.[6] Dalziel had bought both papers in 1910,[7] and closedThe Standard, the morning paper, in 1916.[5] Hulton introduced the gossip columnLondoner's Diary, originally billed as "a column written by gentlemen for gentlemen".[citation needed]
In 1923,Lord Beaverbrook, owner of theDaily Express, bought Hulton's newspapers, although he sold them shortly thereafter to theDaily Mail's ownerLord Rothermere, with the exception of theStandard. It became a staunchly Conservative paper, harshly attacking Labour in 1945 in a high-profile campaign that backfired. In the 1960s, the paper was upstaged byThe Evening News, which sold more than 1 million copies nightly.[citation needed] During the decade, the paper also began to publish the comic stripModesty Blaise, which bolstered its sales throughout the 1970s.The Evening Standard ceased publishing on Saturdays on 30 November 1974, when it still produced six editions daily.[8] In the 1960s, the paper's political editor Robert Carvel was granted a morning briefing by prime ministerHarold Wilson and it had its own correspondents inParis andWashington.[9]
In 1980,Express Newspapers merged theStandard withAssociated Newspapers'Evening News in aJoint Operating Agreement.[citation needed] The new paper was known as theNew Standard until 1985, when Associated Newspapers bought out the remaining stake, turning it intoThe Standard.[citation needed] In 1987 theEvening News was briefly revived to compete withRobert Maxwell'sLondon Daily News, but was reabsorbed intoThe Standard later that year, after the collapse of Maxwell's paper.[citation needed] In 1988 theEvening Standard included the by-line "Incorporating the 'Evening News'", which remained until the paper's sale in 2009.[citation needed]
On 21 January 2009, the Russian businessman and formerKGB agentAlexander Lebedev and his sonEvgeny Lebedev, who in 2010 went on to ownThe Independent, agreed to acquire control of theEvening Standard for £1 for 64 per cent ownership.[1][10] A few years earlier, 12 per cent of the paper had been sold to Justin Shaw andGeordie Greig.[citation needed] Associated Newspapers retained the remaining 24 per cent.[citation needed]
In November 2009, it was announced that theLondon Evening Standard would drop its morning "News Extra" edition from 4 January 2010. From then on, the first edition was the "West End Final", available from 2 pm.[11] One edition of 600,000 copies would be printed starting at 12:30 pm, ending 5.30 am starts for journalists and the previous deadline of 7 am for the first edition. Twenty people were expected to lose their jobs as a result.[11]
There were often considerable changes between editions in the front-page lead and the following news pages, including theLondoner's Diary, though features and reviews stayed the same.[12] In January 2010, circulation was increased to 900,000.[13]
In May 2009, the newspaper launched a series of poster ads, each of which prominently featured the word "Sorry" in the paper's then-masthead font. These ads offered various apologies for past editorial approaches, such as "Sorry for losing touch".[14] None of the posters mentioned theEvening Standard by name, although they featured the paper'sEros logo. Ex-editorVeronica Wadley criticised the "Pravda-style" campaign saying it humiliated the paper's staff and insulted its readers.[15]
The campaign was designed byMcCann Erickson. Also in May 2009, the paper relaunched as theLondon Evening Standard with a new layout and masthead, marking the occasion by giving away 650,000 free copies on the day,[16] and refreshed its sports coverage.[17]
After a long history of paid circulation, on 12 October 2009, theStandard became a free newspaper,[18][19] with free circulation of 700,000, limited to central London.[citation needed] In February 2010, a paid-for circulation version became available in suburban areas of London for 20p (although many places sell it for 50p).[20][21] The newspaper won the "Media Brand of the Year" and the "Grand Prix Gold" awards at the Media Week awards in October 2010. The judges said: "[The Standard has] quite simply ... stunned the market. Not just for the act of going free, but because editorial quality has been maintained, circulation has almost trebled and advertisers have responded favourably. Here is a media brand restored to health."[22] TheStandard also won the daily newspaper of the year award at theLondon Press Club Awards in May 2011.[23]
The Evening Standard launched a mobile app with US app developerHandmark in May 2010.[24] The range of apps was updated in 2015.[25]
In March 2018, editorGeorge Osborne initiated a redesign of the paper, which included dropping the "London" from its title in a signal of the paper's ambition to have greater national and international influence.[26] The paper also introduced more colourful "signposting" for different sections such as news, comment, and business, as it was noted by Osborne that it had not been "easy" to find them inside the paper previously.[26] The masthead was also redesigned with a new font, and emojis were added to the paper's five-day weather forecast.[27]
In May 2018, James Cusick ofopenDemocracy alleged the newspaper had been providing favourable news coverage to companies, includingUber andGoogle, in exchange for financial sponsorship.[28][29]
In June 2019, theEvening Standard announced job cuts.[30] By the end of 2019, the company reported a pre-tax loss of £13.6 million. In August 2020, the paper announced a further 115 job cuts in order to save the company.[31]
Before theCOVID-19 pandemic that started in 2020, theEvening Standard's daily circulation was about 800,000. By mid-2024, it had dropped below 300,000.[32] The newspaper lost nearly £20 million in 2023.[33]
On 29 May 2024, the newspaper announced that it would go from a daily to weekly print publication as it was unprofitable, and become adigital first publication.[34][35][33] The newspaper had dropped from about 70 to 30 pages in the preceding decade.[36] The change was made by Lebedev under pressure by Sultan Muhammad Abuljadayel, who has owned a 30% stake in theEvening Standard's parent company since 2018.[37]
On 14 June 2024, the newspaper announced it would eliminate 150 jobs. The redundancies included 70 editorial workers (out of 120), 40 office workers and 45 workers from the paper's printing and distribution operations atBroxbourne.[36] Lebedev proposed to make statutory minimum payments plus £1,000, capped at £21,000, to thosemade redundant.[38]
On 29 July 2024, the last Friday and Monday editions had been printed,[39] and on Thursday 19 September 2024 the last daily format edition was printed.[40][41] The weekly edition was published on Thursdays from 26 September 2024 under the new name ofThe London Standard.[42][43][44]
From July 2020 to October 2021, the newspaper's editor wasEmily Sheffield, sister ofSamantha Cameron, who took over from the formerChancellor of the ExchequerGeorge Osborne, who became editor-in-chief.[citation needed] As editor he had replacedSarah Sands who, in turn, had replacedGeordie Greig following his departure toThe Mail on Sunday in March 2012.[45]Veronica Wadley was the newspaper's editor between 2002 and 2009.[46]Max Hastings was editor from 1996 until he retired in 2002.[citation needed]
TheEvening Standard, a regional newspaper, emphasises London-centred news (especially in its features pages), covering building developments, property prices, traffic schemes, politics, the congestion charge and, in theLondoner's Diary page, gossip on the social scene, and also covers significant national and international news.[citation needed] It also occasionally runs campaigns on London issues that national newspapers do not cover in detail.[citation needed]
It has a tradition of providing arts coverage. Its best known former art critic,Brian Sewell, was known for his acerbic view ofconceptual art,Britart and theTurner Prize[47] and his views attracted controversy and criticism in the art world.[48] He has been described as "Britain's most famous and controversial art critic".[49]
During the2008 London mayoral election, the newspaper and particularly the correspondentAndrew Gilligan published articles in support of theConservative candidateBoris Johnson, including frequent front-page headlines condemning Labour opponentKen Livingstone. This included the headline "Suicide bomb backer runs Ken's campaign".[50] On 5 May 2010, the newspaper stated in an editorial that, having supportedLabour underTony Blair, the newspaper would be supportingDavid Cameron and the Conservatives in the2010 general election, saying that "the Conservatives are ready for power: they look like a government in waiting".[51] On 5 May 2015, an editorial stated that the newspaper would again be supporting Cameron and the Conservatives in the2015 general election, saying that the Conservatives have "shown themselves to be good for London". The newspaper also said "there may be goodtactical reasons to voteLiberal Democrat".[52]
The Media Reform Coalition (MRC) through its chair Justin Schlosberg andGoldsmiths, University of London considered that in the2016 London mayoral election, theEvening Standard favoured the Conservative Party. There were almost twice as many positive headlines about the Conservative candidate,Zac Goldsmith, as for his Labour rival,Sadiq Khan, with stories exhibiting the strongest bias against Khan also being the most prominent.[53]
In the2017 and2019 United Kingdom general elections, theEvening Standard endorsed the Conservative Party.[54][55] During the2019 Conservative leadership election, theEvening Standard endorsed Johnson.[56] During the2020 Labour leadership election, theEvening Standard endorsedKeir Starmer to becomeLabour leader and consequentlyLeader of the Opposition.[57] TheEvening Standard endorsedLiz Truss in theJuly–September 2022 Conservative Party leadership election.[58] For the2024 London mayoral election, theEvening Standard endorsed Khan for Mayor of London.[59] TheEvening Standard later endorsed the Labour Party in the2024 general election.[60]
On 14 December 2004,Associated Newspapers launched a Monday–Fridayfreesheet edition of theEvening Standard calledStandard Lite to help boost circulation. This edition had 48 pages, compared with about 80 in the main paper, which also had a supplement on most days.[61]
In August 2006, the freesheet was relaunched asLondon Lite. It was designed to be especially attractive to younger female readers and featured a wide range of lifestyle articles, but less news and business news than the main paper. It was initially available only between 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. atEvening Standard vendors and in the central area, but later became available in the evening from its street distributors.[62] With the sale of theEvening Standard, but not theLondon Lite, to Alexander Lebedev on 21 January 2009, the ownership links between theStandard and theLite were broken.[63]
On Fridays, the newspaper includes a free glossy lifestyle magazine,ES (launched as theEvening Standard Magazine in 2009,[64]) and the circulation was increased to 350,000 in September 2014.[citation needed] This has moved from more general articles to concentrate on glamour, with features on the rich, powerful and famous.[citation needed] On Wednesdays, some areas offer a free copy of theHomes & Property supplement, edited by Janice Morley, which includes London property listings and articles from lifestyle journalists including Barbara Chandler, Katie Law, and Alison Cork.[citation needed]
A free entertainment guide supplementMetro Life, previously calledHot Tickets, was published on Thursdays from September 2002 to September 2005. This was a "what's-on" guide with listings of cinemas and theatres in and around London.[citation needed]
Editors, with their year of appointment, have been:
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