Loaded magazine to shut down after 21 years
Loaded magazine will shut down as a print title after 21 years.
The last issue came out on Thursday and featured an interview with musician Noel Gallagher and Scottish novelist Irvine Welsh. Deputy editor Lia Nicholls posted pictures of the “very first and unfortunately very last” issues of the magazine on Twitter, telling readers: “Sad day. Loved every minute.”
The very first and unfortunately the last issue of @loadedmag. Sad day. Loved every minute. pic.twitter.com/rdBWfNxj0h
— Lia Nicholls (@LiaNicholls) March 27, 2015
A statement from Loaded’s publisher reads: “As of the current issue, published on March 26th, Loaded will cease to trade as a printed magazine.
“We would like to pay tribute to our customers, staf and especially our contributors and editorial team.”
The announcement caps off the magazine’s tumultuous tussle for survival that saw its management team set up Simian Publishing to take control of the title in 2013. It had four owners in three years with Simian gaining control of the title from multi-millionaire businessman and sometime pornographer Paul Baxendale-Walker.
Loaded once boasted six figure sales at the peak of its popularity in the 90s when it became synomous with the generation of so-called “lads mags” that concocted a potent content mix of scantily-clad women, drinking and football.
However, the title struggled to follow readers migration online and print sales have plummeted as result. Sales soared as high as 350,00 issues in 2000 and in 2011 were as low as 35,000 – the last officially audited figures for the title.