Manchester entertainment magazine City Life is no more, well, unless the NUJ can pull off some clever coup. The Guardian Media Group, which has owned what is in essence Manchester's Time Out since 1989, say the magazine has never been profitable in the fifteen years it has been publishing the title and that it can no longer justify running it. GMG plan to expand the listings content in the Manchester Evening News to compensate for the loss of City Life.
The local NUJ say they will fight the closure, which will leave a 13 strong editorial team out of work, though even if they managed to force GMG to find new jobs for the editors and designers, it is unlikely the media group will be persuaded to do so by keeping City Life alive.
Chris Paul, the founding editor of City Life, which began in 1983 as a workers' co-operative, said the magazine's closure would be a great loss for the city, but added that the title was not the same as when it launched. Press Gazette quote Paul as saying: "I'm sorry to see the title stop, but it is very different from when we started it as a workers' co-op. It was about alternative news and views - scurrilous and irreverent - now it's a what's-on guide. But it will be badly missed by businesses and artists that rely on City Life to get their foot in the door".