Burda has suspended Living & Gardens, four months after launching a version of the monthly German title in Britain.
The publisher said that it was reviewing the magazine’s performance and that the last issue will cover August and September.
In April, Burda acquired Essential Publishing, which owned a number of competing titles such as Your Home, Homestyle and Period House.
Managing director Luke Patten said: “Burda launched the magazine before it bought Essential Publishing, which has a lot of similar homes titles. We’re just reviewing the portfolio as a whole, the thinking is that the existing portfolio Burda bought is stronger and more established in the UK than pursuing Living & Gardens. We already own a title called Period House and Its Gardens and the title is incredibly close, the homes market is very competitive.” Patten added that there were currently three staff working on the title and it was “distinctly possible people will be found jobs within the group”.
Living & Gardens was Burda’s second launch in the British market, after reallife weekly Full House. Edited by former Real editor Sian Rees, it was designed to “celebrate the charm of English ‘rusticchic’ style”, according to the publisher when it launched, targeting 30-something readers and also focusing on cooking, entertaining and luxury travel.
Living & Gardens appears as Wohnen & Garten in Germany, Vivere La Casa in Italy and Maison & Jardin Passion in France.
Its UK launch coincided with the News International magazines division’s first magazine — Inside Out — an upscale homes, DIY and gardens title.
In the second six months of last year, circulation in the home-interest magazine market dropped 5.1 per cent year on year.
Channel 4 launched its first branded magazine 4Homes in January. Hachette Filipacchi — which bought struggling Real Homes in the Highbury House sale last year — relaunched the title in February, and Emap sold Period Living and Traditional Homes to Centaur for £1.5m.
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