Another free newspaper for London – but will it last?

Not content with there being just one free newspaper in London these days, a new freesheet will hit the streets of the capital next week, hoping to capitalise on the closure of thelondonpaper and London Lite last year.

From 5 February, London Weekly will distribute 250,000 copies every Friday and Saturday, to bridge the gap between national newspapers, Sunday tabloids and dailies with a mixture of news, showbiz news, sport and music reviews.

While this launch may just affect Londoners at the moment, the publisher has plans to expand to three titles by 2012, hitting the streets of Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham.

And one thing separating the paper from all the other freebies, such as the Standard and magazines Shortlist, Stylist and Sport, already handed out in the capital, London Weekly will also attempt to tackle the weekend market with its Saturday editions. It will be interesting to see how much of an impact it has on Saturday newspaper sales for those retailers based in central London.

However, with murmurings that the London Evening Standard is struggling to attract enough advertising since ditching its 50p cover price in September, one wonders how long this new title will be able to sustain itself.