UK down to one magazine printer...

An industry that’s had it’s day tbh, certainly in terms of mass-consumption.

It is hardly a surprise though. The printing industry as a whole has historically been a massive industry (everything from people wanting business cards through to brochures, promo leaflets and catalogues and of course newspapers and magazines). But with the internet and social media becoming an almighty force, one-by-one they have disappeared. It's a shame, but they are largely history now.

Sad news for the UK magazine trade…

As above, the world moves on, loads of things that once were popular no longer are. Social Media, Youtube etc has replaced magazines... they've simply had their day and people who stayed in the business, stayed in too long.

I love magazines, mainly because I can't stand looking at screens all day. I never see anyone else reading them though. Tis a shame.

I've worked in the printing trade for many years now. Demand for printed material has been in steady decline for a number of years. The firm I work for has had to reposition into other areas although we do still produce quite a lot of printed stuff.

Loved a read at the Viz in the works rest room. Genuinely laughed out laughed on occasion. I mean, a guy carrying his testicles around in a wheel barrow. Brilliant!! I don't imagine it has gone on line but doubt it would have the same feel.

I love magazines, mainly because I can’t stand looking at screens all day. I never see anyone else reading them though. Tis a shame.

Plenty of people read them - there's a significant part of WHSmiths set aside for them, and space in almost every supermarket. They wouldn't waste that space if there wasn't a market. But, those of us who do read them are now getting old, and less and less of us. 😀

I think the thread title is wrong - it's only the top ten magazines that are all moving to be printed by the one company.
The smaller printers (eg. Buxton Press) are still going.

As much as this makes a good headline - there are other magazine printers out there. Buxton Press being a prime example for small run production.
https://buxtonpress.com/magazine-printing/

And technology has also enabled decent sized printers with capacity to dip into this market too. The magazines with print runs of hundreds of thousands may be dead. But magazine production isn't.

Even in my small way (me and the dog) I print half a dozen various community magazines every month (runs of up to x1000).

I do only subscribe to one printed magazine though (Motorsport Magazine) as the in-depth articles are better.

The wife has Horse and Hound too.

It's a tiny sad thing,not enough to burst in to tears about,but(for me) just adds to the pile of 'soon to be lost forever'.
See also :-
Cinemas and films on big screens.
Reading newspapers.
Real life shopping.
Face to face interaction with other humans.

My wife's family are from a pretty provincial part of the US that is quite old fashioned. They still get free newspapers with a big fat wad of flyers in it for local shops showing the bargains to be had, like we used to get in the 80s.  A big local employer is a huge print factory that makes them. They cut down trees, use loads of energy to manufacture and distribute all this stuff and pay all these people just to send out stuff that goes straight to be recycled in most cases.  Or, if the customer is lucky, the recipient visits the shop before recycling the material.

What utter madness.

They cut down trees, use loads of energy to manufacture and distribute all this stuff

Sounds like you need to visit a data centre to see the amount of energy used in keeping people updated on how their latest home car mechanics is going 😉

Mass circulation printing is beyond my experience. There are plenty of sheet fed presses, mini-web and digital all around the country. Less choice for the big boys but plenty for us little fish whatever our circulation.

Loved a read at the Viz in the works rest room. Genuinely laughed out laughed on occasion.

That's the one magazine I'd probably still buy, if any. Haven't seen it for years but it used to be hilarious in a way I don't think any other book or magazine ever has been.

I wish some of them would advertise for printing and binding ebooks. The place that did my thesis was an extraordinary amount for spiral bound of an ebook I wanted a hard copy of.

It seems incredible that once upon a time I'd research a new thing* and it would be largely driven by what i'd seen or read in a magazine. I can still remember the sole picture of an Overbury's Pioneer and the desire to own one that it created. Nowadays I can look at every bike/kayak/tent* on the planet in every colour they come in and every setting they'll ever likely to be used in. And then read a score of reviews. From a consumer point of view they seem almost archaic, like a phone box. But there is no doubting the pleasure of reading a magazine article, perhaps sat on the loo or waiting for a dentist. There's a kind of vinyl LP vibe about it all, and I reckon there'll always be demand so maybe a few years under the radar and then slowly a renaissance, who knows.

I love magazines, mainly because I can’t stand looking at screens all day. I never see anyone else reading them though. Tis a shame.

I love reading a magazine but in recent years, maybe its just me, but I think the quality of all the magazines I used to buy has dropped off a cliff. Theres literally nothing I can't read online, sooner, for free...

Sounds like you need to visit a data centre to see the amount of energy used in keeping people updated on how their latest home car mechanics is going 😉

Most of that is stuff I want to read rather than stuff that gets immediately binned...

I thought this was pretty cool, indie mags have some great writers. But in the end I thought I'd just get mags I wasn't really interested in.
https://www.stackmagazines.com/the-magazines/

Private Eye is still essential magazine sub for me - perhaps because they are so distinctive amd haven't cannibalized their own market by putting much of their stuff online. But that's 1 in a thousand that could do that...

I suppose it's really all down to the disposable nature of a lot of journalism and the ease and speed with which stuff can be published online now.

I suppose I'm a bit misty eyed for the glossy mags of my youth. But it's not really something my kids generation have really known. In fact they probably associate print media with the occasional trashy gossip shite mag my missus buys.

Everything you could reasonably want is online and available with a correctly phrased Google search. Hardly a romantic notion though is it?

Bring back the 'Zine!

I can still remember the sole picture of an Overbury’s Pioneer and the desire to own one that it created.

I had a similar desire to own one and did. It was so badly made it nearly killed me.........

Bring back the ‘Zine!

You don't have to bring them back, or get misty eyed... they're still there*! Just got to buy them to keep them alive!

*some of them 🙁

Our recently refurbished Tesco Superstore has gone from two aisles totally around 40m in length dedicated to magazines down to a bit of shelving roughly six metres long mixed in with crisps and so on.

I think some of the articles STW publish on the front page would look good in a printed magazine!

I'm a massive fan of magazines but I don't read them any more. I've a big pile of Singletrack and Rouleur here and I haven't read any of them. When you have a virtually endless library of information on any subject you want, it's entirely free, and it also happens to be incredibly addictive, it leaves little time left for magazines.

I keep meaning to read them, and it makes me sad that I don't. But I spend my days on a digital form of heroin now.

Magazines are definitely in freefall as you can get what the vast majority offer online faster and usually for free. It's only the specialist stuff that's doing well, especially if it avoids printing articles that go out-of-date quickly. For MTB that's Cranked, whereas ones like MBUK and MBR are pretty much pointless by the time they reach the shelves. Singletrack is in the middle of those two extremes.

I’ve worked in the printing trade for many years now. Demand for printed material has been in steady decline for a number of years. The firm I work for has had to reposition into other areas although we do still produce quite a lot of printed stuff.

I deliver to the printers and trade is steadily declining for all the suppliers. We have all noticed a rise in sales of the higher quality paper though as people move towards more niche products where margins are higher. Large Format (posters, banners, signs) is also doing well, usually for fast orders too so being charged at a premium by the printers to their customers. Been a few mergers going through though in my area, mainly between medium sized companies but with the one-man places either closing or setting up within a larger company to add to their offering. Definitely feels like a seismic change in the industry and my colleagues who have been in the game a long time say it's definitely got a feeling of taking a definitive direction change but no-one knows which way it will go. A few wholesalers have gone under this year already thanks to lower bulk volumes, something that's been noticed on the delivery side for most companies we deliver to.

Be interesting to see which direction it all takes over the next few years.

Haven’t seen it for years but it used to be hilarious in a way I don’t think any other book or magazine ever has been.

Really? 20+ years subscriber to the viz here and still laugh with glee on a monthly basis. Also see it in shops still on occasion. Try it for a quarter… It’s purile and silly but incredibly politically aware also… Very clever writing.

I used to spend a small fortune on magazines, I’d buy MBUK, Singletrack, Bike, (US mountain bike mag), Q, then The Word, plus others that caught my eye. It started to get stupid, the amount I was spending, so I stopped all of them, and I only buy Uncut now because it’s got a lot of good music writing and reviews in it.

It's a bit like the coal mines really...

1. You can blame Maggie all you want but it's only gonna go one way.

Viz and quite a few of the other magazines mentioned in the thread are all available on the Readly app. I got a free trial of it from my bank and then went onto the paid version. I get my choice of daily newspaper and a good selection of magazines to browse through every month.

That said I still get physical copies of Singletrack and Cyclist Mags and will as long as they are available.

A lot of libraries will give you free access to magazine reading apps. But I quite like wandering into the library and flicking through mags I wouldn't otherwise or search out...

A lot of libraries will give you free access to magazine reading apps.

Looks like you can get Audiobooks now too which is cool.