Big Issue North to close after 30 years

theguardian.com:

The Big Issue is shutting down its northern England edition next month, blaming reduced town centre footfall since the pandemic.

Increased print, energy and paper costs have also contributed to making Big Issue North “no longer financially viable”, its publishers said. A souvenir final edition will go on sale on 8 May, 30 years after the title first hit the streets.

From 15 May, Big Issue North vendors will sell the national magazine, which is produced in London. They can buy copies for £2 each, sell them for £4 and keep the profit.

The national magazine will employ a dedicated northern correspondent to help amplify the voices of marginalised communities in the region, according to the Big Life Group, which owns the national brand.

Big Issue North started in December 1992 as a Manchester supplement within the London-based Big Issue. The following year, it became an independently produced magazine, with staff based in Manchester, Liverpool and other northern cities.

It became well respected for its cultural coverage and its investigations into issues affecting the most vulnerable in society, as well as campaigns such as End Child Detention Now, which demanded an end to children being held in immigration detention in the UK.

The novelist Benjamin Myers was one of many public figures to mourn Big Issue North’s demise, saying its coverage of literature had “always been exceptional”.

The publishers said: “Since 1993, Big Issue North has been an independently produced magazine focusing on regional stories and profiling some of the biggest names across the northern cultural landscape. However, a decline in sales in the aftermath of the pandemic as town centre footfall decreased, alongside increased print, energy and paper costs, mean