EditPublishing information
The Pink Paper is a fortnightly, free newspaper for Britain's lesbians, gay men and bisexuals. Founded 1987.
Circulation is 40,827 (ABC audited, Average net distribution, July to December 2006).
It is published by Millivres Prowler Group, Britain's biggest gay publishing house, which also publishes GT (formerly Gay Times), DIVA and AXM and youth website Puffta.
EditContact information
Switchboard: +44 (0)20 7424 7400
Fax: +44 (0)20 7424 7401
Editorial: +44 (0)20 7424 7414 or editoral@pinkpaper.com
Advertising: +44 (0)20 7424 7415 or advertising@pinkpaper.com
Distribution: +44 (0)20 7424 7415 or distribution@pinkpaper.com
Subscriptions: +44 (0)20 845 430 9112
Post: Pink Paper, Spectrum House, Unit M, 32-34 Gordon House Road, London, NW5 1LP
EditCurrent management
EditHistory
Pink Paper, 24 April, 1998, issue 529.
Its offices suffered an arson attack as reported on Sunday 8 September, 1996 by BBC1 television in its Southeast News programme. No motive was known.
Previous editors include Ben Summerskill who is now director of Stonewall.
It had a major re-styling with issue 549 on 11 September, 1998, calling itself a "news magazine" but the new look was widely criticised.
In autumn of 2000 it actually changed format from a tabloid-sized newspaper to an A4 size magazine in the style of Newsweek or the Economist. It had traditionally been available free in bars and clubs but it was moved to be a paid-for, available in WHSmiths and newsagents with a cover-price of £1.80. The move upset many people and the publication was deserted by readers and advertisers.
The decision was reversed after just a few months and
Pink Paper returned as a free publication in January 2001. However it retained it's unpopular A4 magazine format.
Current editor Tris Reid-Smith took over the publication from Justin Webb on 10 September 2001. By this time the fortunes of the parent company were in decline and there were a series of staff changes in the advertising sales team which damaged advertising income. During this period there was one re-design, but the A4 format remained.
The parent company, PP&B Ltd, closed the publication in the autumn of 2004. No copies were printed for a month but Tris Reid-Smith began talks with MPG, owners of Gay Times and DIVA. The purchase of the title was approved by the MPG board and chairman Chris Graham-Bell and managing director Simon Topham successfully negotiated the purchase of the title (although not its liabilities) from previous owners David Bridle and Kelvin Sollis.
The core editorial team of Tris Reid-Smith, deputy editor Simon Swift and photographer Scott Nunn moved with the title from PP&B Ltd to MPG.
Pink Paper returned with a pledge to readers to serve their interests and to provide free news and information to the lesbian, gay and bisexual community. That first issue under the new owners also saw readers' surveyed about their feelings on the title. The publication had previous been weekly but the frequency was cut to fortnightly at this time.
The survey lead to a major redesign and rebranding in the spring of 2005 with the publication relaunching as a 48 page tabloid newspaper.
EditPress cuttings
My kind of decade by Keith Flett in the
Pink Paper, 14 November, 1997, issue 507, page 21. As part of the
Pink Paper's 10th anniversary celebrations the serial letter-writer says what has changed for him over the 10-year period. A black and white photograph is included. "It must have been about 10 years ago that I had my first letter published. I wrote to the Guardian to criticise a piece by Professor Eric Hobsbawn on Soviet history. I recall reading the first issue of the Pink Paper 10 years ago. I was at the Hackney Empire watching Bloolips, I think."; "Today, I still work for British Telecom, I am still an active socialist and trade unionist, I still have a beard, I still drink real ale, and I still live in north London. And, of course, I still have a passion for writing letters to magazines and newspapers. So in some ways nothing much has changed in ten years." "But some things have. It is much easier being gay these days, as one doesn't need to be constantly assertive about one's sexuality. Although a few changes in the law would help us towards gay liberation, I think in general I feel less embattled."
Gay newspaper to change its lifestyle by Jane Robins in
The Independent, 9 September, 1998, page 7. "The
Pink Paper, the only national weekly gay newspaper, is having a facelift to transform it from a worthy political campaigner to trendy all-round magazine. But before the new-look mag has even hit the streets, the change is causing controversy. Its owner, Kelvin Sollis, decided that 10 years of losses were enough: it was time to go commercial. But the decision has hit some of the oldest readers hard - they think it is deserting its serious political agenda." "The problem was, says David Bridle, the paper's general manager; that young readers were turning their backs on it." "Also, David Bridle says, it needs to win back lesbian readers. The paper had catered too much for the young men so valued by advertisers, he says, and now needs to redress that bias" "
Boyz, which has until now subsidised the
Pink Paper, says that some rivals in the market have made much of gay politics into a cult of victimhood."