London Lite to close

The London Lite, the free newspaper owned by Associated Press will publish its last issue on 13 November.

The closure follows the demise of News International’s rival publication, TheLondonPaper and the decision by Russian oligarch Alexander Lebedev to distribute The London Evening Standard for free.

The London Evening Standard, which previously had a cover price of 50p went free on 12 October.

The London Lite launched three years ago and distributed 400,000 copies across the capital every weekday.

Steve Auckland, managing director of Associated Newspapers Free Division says: “I’d like to thank all of the staff at Lite for their unbridled enthusiasm and magnificent contributions to the paper over the last three years. I’d also like to thank the agencies and clients for supporting a unique offering in the afternoon market place – and not forgetting our one million daily readers.”

Both The London Lite and TheLondonPaper launched in September 2006.

Associated Newspapers publishes the morning free title Metro.