View all newsletters
Sign up for our free email newsletters

Fighting for quality news media in the digital age.

  1. Publishers
  2. B2B
November 20, 2008

William Reed mulls wine titles merger

By Rachael Gallagher

William Reed Business Media has acquired wine weekly Harpers from Nexus Media and is considering merging the title with its own monthly title, Wine and Spirit.

At 130 years old, Harpers Wine and Spirit Weekly is the oldest paid-for weekly for the UK wine and spirit trade.

Andrew Reed, managing director of the William Reed drinks division, said the publisher had considered buying Harpers for some time, and said merging it with Wine and Spirit was a possibility.

‘It has been a long term ambition of ours to own Harpers,” he said. “We would look now to see what the industry want us to do with it – that [merging] would be an option.”

All editorial and advertising staff will be relocating from Nexus’s headquarters in Swanley, Kent to William Reed’s in Crawley, West Sussex.

Reed would not confirm if any staff would be made redundant, but said the publisher was ‘reviewing how they operate in future, bearing in mind that Wine and Spirit have some overlap”.

Press Gazette understands that at least three staff have been told that their positions will no longer exist at William Reed, but there are a number of vacant positions on similar titles that they have been invited to apply for.

Content from our partners
MHP Group's 30 To Watch awards for young journalists open for entries
How PA Media is helping newspapers make the digital transition
Publishing on the open web is broken, how generative AI could help fix it

Reed said: ‘[The future] clearly lies in enhancing Harpers’ reputation as the information source as the industry.

“With our other titles such as Wine and Spirit, Off-Licence News, Morning Advertiser, The Grocer and Restaurant magazine there’s an awful lot we can bring to the party to enhance that already very high reputation and regard that Harpers is held in.”

Harpers was traditionally a wine magazine, but rebranded as Harpers Wine & Spirit to widen its target audience.

Its website, TalkingDrinks.com, was launched in May 2007, and offers news, forums, podcasts and Talking Drinks TV.

Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog

Select and enter your email address Weekly insight into the big strategic issues affecting the future of the news industry. Essential reading for media leaders every Thursday. Your morning brew of news about the world of news from Press Gazette and elsewhere in the media. Sent at around 10am UK time. Our weekly does of strategic insight about the future of news media aimed at US readers. A fortnightly update from the front-line of news and advertising. Aimed at marketers and those involved in the advertising industry.
  • Business owner/co-owner
  • CEO
  • COO
  • CFO
  • CTO
  • Chairperson
  • Non-Exec Director
  • Other C-Suite
  • Managing Director
  • President/Partner
  • Senior Executive/SVP or Corporate VP or equivalent
  • Director or equivalent
  • Group or Senior Manager
  • Head of Department/Function
  • Manager
  • Non-manager
  • Retired
  • Other
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
Thank you

Thanks for subscribing.

Websites in our network