01 August 2018

UK WEEKLY, HELLO, MOVES TO EUROPE

Following the closure of Polestar’s gravure site in Sheffield, a major publisher has moved its weekly magazine title to Belgium, while others still seek permanent solutions.

The last issue of Hello! to be printed at Polestar Sheffield has left the press and now the weekly title will be printed at Circle Printers in Belgium.

Roger Williams, associate publisher for Hello! magazine said that with no option for gravure left in the UK the title had no choice but to look to Europe. Gravure printer Prinovis UK in Liverpool would have been unlikely to be able to accommodate the title due to the amount of weekly titles it already produces and the fact that it prints rival tile OK!.

“We did look at the option of printing web offset but its hugely expensive because it wastes a lot of paper. We also looked at printing in Spain as our parent title Hola! does, but really we wanted to stay as close to the UK as possible to maintain our delivery and sales schedule, so we went for Circle Printers,” he said.

Polestar UK Print and Polestar Stones-Wheaton went into administration with PricewaterhouseCoopers in April, with Sheffield site closing its doors at the end of May.