Did we mention that the London Evening Standard last week launched that free 'Lite' version we have been gossiping about in recent months? No. Well, they did - central London vendors last week started distributing the free lunch time 'edited highlights' edition of the paper last week.
According to today's Media Guardian some of those vendors reckon the new free sheet is impacting on sales of the main paid-for edition of the paper. One vendor in Farringdon (well, if you're going to ask one, you might as well start with the Standard seller who stands just down the road from your London offices) told the Guardian: "It's definitely hit sales. The free version is very popular - it's usually gone by about 1pm".
However ES management - whose main aim is to expand their overall readership in London - are unlikely to too bothered by those reports. Editor Veronica Wadley, who described Standard Lite as "bold, innovative, exactly aimed at the market we want to reach", admitted last week that the new free version might have an impact on main edition sales, adding: "It's an inexact science, not something anyone knows. It may even promote the main edition. We've just got to see how it goes."