I was strolling through London the other day and it just occured to me that there is a big industry in free newspapers! In the morning, there was the Metro newspaper which usually sits in the entrance halls of the Tube stations. It’s a great little read for the journey into work and takes about 20 mins or so to get through.

I was also handed City AM which is a short and punchy business newspaper.. I rather like this paper as I like all things financial and it’s gives a quick low down on all the business news.. usually I can get through this in 10-15 mins.

Onsport is purely a sports paper which comes out once a week. I like this paper too, it’s a great resource for all things sport and has a calendar of the major sporting events.

Then there is ShortList which again, comes out once a week like Onsport. I have a feeling that they are made by the same company as they are of the similar size and come out the same day. I should really check now but I’ve thrown the papers away! ShortlList is your typical lads magazine (with no boobs) and features news, sports, tv, cars, movies, style, computer games etc. It’s like a cut down version of FHM.

After the typical workday, you’ll also see London Lite and The London Paper being handed out free also. There is usually very little differentiating the two but great little reads on the way back home if you’re commuting.

I’m sure there are many other newspapers out there which I’m not aware of but it just makes you think that it’s obviously a business model that works through advertising. There are hundreds of adverts in all these papers and it’s big business. The newspapers such as the Evening Standard which cost 50p used to fly off the newspaper stands as people liked something to read on the way home.. I now don’t see them selling as much as they used to… the growing tide of London’s free newspapers must be killing them off.

The competition is so fierce and eventually something must give.. I don’t know if there is a saturation point with the millions of people in London but so long as I get my free paper, I don’t care!