London’s local news startups find readers willing to pay

The Press Gazette takes a look at three recently launched local news startups in London:

London Centric was launched in September by former Guardian media editor Jim Waterson and offers readers regular email newsletters and in-depth reporting that they won’t find elsewhere. Based on Substack, it charges £7.95 per month for full access.

The Londoner was launched by Mill Media in October with a full-time staff of three. The title hopes to replicate the success of sister publications in Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool and Sheffield and has around 8,000 paying subscribers across those cities.

Like London Centric, it is a newsletter-style model offering more in-depth coverage that readers might expect from the capital’s various free-to-air websites. It charges £8 per month for full access.

The capital’s newest launch, London Daily Digital, began publishing in mid-February 2025 and is offering a paid-for monthly print edition for £5 and a free daily page-turning digital edition as well as a website. It offers readers generally upbeat coverage centred around council initiatives across the 32 London boroughs.

Londonist noted in January:

These new titles join an already rich if disparate online ecosystem. Dave Hill’s OnLondon has been around since 2017, majoring in news from City Hall and other aspects of London politics, but also tackling adjacent stories. Dave has a Substack presence in the form of OnLondon Extra. Both are reader-supported rather than relying on advertising.

The New York Times also launched a breaking news hub in London in September.

Around 8% of people in the U.K. paid for news in 2024, according to the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, compared to 22% in the U.S.