The London Evening Standard, which is looking to cut bulks in favour of reduced price and free copies, has secured the rights to distribute after 8.30pm at the site owned by Canary Wharf Group.
The 97-acre estate has a footfall of more than 650,000 shoppers a week and 90,000 people work there. It is viewed as a key distribution channel for attracting an ABC1 demographic. Sources at the newspaper claim it can hit between 10,000 and 15,000 copies a day, although this amount is disputed by other newspaper groups.
It is understood the Alexander Lebedev-owned newspaper, which gave away more than 120,000 copies in March, is looking to reduce its bulks by 40,000 and redistribute these copies in key upmarket areas across the capital.
Distributors of the London Evening Standard are unlikely to be competing against thelondonpaper, which won the contract initially in 2007, where distribution of about 10,000 copies of the free daily, mainly across branded bins, finishes around 7.30pm.
News International, according to one source, bid four times more than Associated Newspapers for the contract.
The contract for the Standard follows its relaunch on Monday under new editor Geordie Greig as it looks to reconnect with Londoners and bolster its circulation, which has been hit by the arrival of the two London free papers.
Media buyers have been positive about the newspaper's overhaul. Paul Thomas, investment director-publishing at Mindshare, said the paper "looked less elitist, more friendly and regional and would likely encourage trial readers". Dominic Williams, press director at Carat, gave it cautious approval, but said the proof would be in the circulation numbers.
Under its new management, the paper has attracted brands such as Gucci and Tesco due to its more flexible attitude to trading, as opposed to the yield-driven approach of former owner Daily Mail and General Trust - a fact acknowledged by the paper.
Simon Davies, the Standard's advertising director, said: "We are now more of a trading newspaper. We have opened up our brand portfolio by being more flexible."
.jpg)
.jpg)