Today's the first day of the freebie Standard but for many the question won't be 'how will this change the landscape of newspaper publishing?' but 'how the hell do I get my hands on a copy?'
Diamond Geezer did an excellent analysis of the new distribution method over the weekend. In essence it boils down to this: if you're going past a zone 1 tube station, great. If you're nipping into your local WHSmiths or supermarket, also a pretty good chance. But your newsagent round the corner? The guy on the newsstand you used to chat to of an evening? Forget it.
Some entire areas have no distribution points at all: bad luck if you're in Brockley, Kentish Town, East Finchley, Chelsea, Highgate, Kilburn, Wandsworth, Cricklewood, large swathes of Willesden and Richmond, Kensal Green, Dulwich, almost all of south-east London except Lewisham and east London is virtually an ES desert. However, for some reason Wimbledon has four outlets clustered together (and a migrating Luton WHSmiths) and Bromley is equally well served. Weird.
Apparently there'll be new locations added as time goes by, but will this neglect of the suburbs prove costly for the Standard? Where's your nearest outlet? And are you really bothered about setting out on a epic trek just to get a paper? (Image by Taxi nerd from the Londonist Flickr pool)
