Life Magazines

What Life Magazines does

Life Magazines, trading as Southwell Magazines Limited, is a Nottinghamshire-based independent publisher of hyperlocal lifestyle magazines. Founded in April 2005 by Penny Clemmow, the company produces five A5 titles covering specific villages and areas in Nottinghamshire — including Southwell, Newark, Trent Valley, Bingham, and Radcliffe — and distributes them free of charge to approximately 26,000 homes every month. The business is privately held, bootstrapped, and operates with a team of 22 employees from Southwell.

The core revenue model is advertising sales into the magazines, with published entry-level ad pricing starting at £42+VAT. The company has layered two adjacent services onto its distribution infrastructure: a paid leaflet-delivery service priced at £30+VAT per 1,000 leaflets (minimum 2,000), and a bundled design, print, and delivery package priced at £270+VAT for 5,000 leaflets, delivered in partnership with Smart Page design consultancy. Distribution is route-based, with leaflet delivery tracked via GPS/satellite to provide proof-of-delivery to advertisers.

The customer base is composed of small and medium local businesses in Nottinghamshire — independent retailers, restaurants, service providers, and event venues. Advertiser relationships are unusually long-tenured, with multiple testimonials citing continuous placements of 5 to 9 years. The technology stack is conventional print publishing with a supporting website; no proprietary software, AI, or platform is indicated. The business has grown organ

Name

Life Magazines

Legal name

Southwell Magazines Limited

Website

https://life-magazines.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2005

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Life Magazines is an independent Nottinghamshire publisher of five free A5 lifestyle magazines distributed monthly to 26,000 homes, monetising through local-business advertising and bundled leaflet-delivery and design services.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Local Print Publishing and Advertising

NAICS

Periodical Publishers (51312)

SIC

Periodicals: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2721)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYMPAJAEAA

Consumer Lifestyle & Fashion Magazines

Media, Entertainment & Sports/Publishing (Books, News, Magazines)/Magazine Publishing (Consumer & B2B/Trade Magazines)

SECONDARYMPAJAEAG

Home, Garden & DIY Magazines

Media, Entertainment & Sports/Publishing (Books, News, Magazines)/Magazine Publishing (Consumer & B2B/Trade Magazines)

Keywords

• Local magazine publishing
• Community lifestyle magazines
• Print advertising services
• Leaflet distribution services
• Graphic design services

Headquarters

HQ city

Southwell

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Others

Revenue model

1. Magazine Advertising: Life Magazines generates revenue by selling advertising space in their five lifestyle magazines distributed to 26,000 homes monthly in Nottinghamshire. They offer flexible advertising packages with themed sections such as Home and Garden for targeted advertising.
2. Leaflet Distribution: The company offers leaflet distribution services to local businesses at £30 + VAT per 1000 leaflets, with a minimum quantity of 2000. They also provide combined design, print, and delivery packages for 5000 A5 double-sided full colour leaflets.
3. Design Services: Through partnership with Smart Page design consultancy, Life Magazines offers graphic design services including leaflets, brochures, logos, stationery, and adverts. They also provide a free advert design service for magazine advertising customers.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Life Magazines is an independent publisher of five free A5 lifestyle magazines (Southwell Life, Newark Village Life, Trent Valley Life, Bingham Life, and Radcliffe Life) distributed monthly to 26,000 homes across Nottinghamshire. The company generates revenue primarily by selling advertising space to local businesses, and supplements this with leaflet distribution and graphic design services through a partnership with Smart Page.

Product overview

Life Magazines is an independent publisher of five A5 lifestyle magazines (Southwell Life, Newark Village Life, Trent Valley Life, Bingham Life, and Radcliffe Life) distributed free to 26,000 homes monthly across Nottinghamshire. The five publications serve as the core product portfolio, each offering local community content and advertising opportunities. The company supplements its publishing business with complementary services including advertising packages, free advert design, professional design services (via Smart Page partnership), and leaflet distribution/printing services.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Southwell Life: Community lifestyle magazine serving Southwell, Nottinghamshire.
• Newark Village Life
• Trent Valley Life
• Bingham Life
• Radcliffe Life

Products and services

• Southwell Life A5 lifestyle magazine distributed free to homes in Southwell, Nottinghamshire, featuring entertaining articles, local community events, groups, clubs, and local heroes content.
• Newark Village Life A5 lifestyle magazine distributed free to homes in the Newark area of Nottinghamshire, offering community-focused local content and advertising.
• Trent Valley Life A5 lifestyle magazine distributed free to homes in the Trent Valley area of Nottinghamshire, featuring themed sections including Home and Garden.
• Bingham Life A5 lifestyle magazine distributed free to homes in Bingham, Nottinghamshire, offering local community content and targeted advertising.
• Radcliffe Life

Named customers5 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Smart PagecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLife Magazines partnered with Smart Page, a design consultancy with over 10 years experience, to offer graphic design services including leaflets, brochures, logos, stationery, and adverts. This partnership enables Life Magazines to provide free advert design to their advertising customers as part of their service offering.
• Independent Distribution ContractorcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorLife Magazines uses an independent distribution contractor for over 10 years to deliver their magazines. The contractor uses satellite tracking for all deliverers, ensuring reliable and trackable distribution to 26,000 homes before the 5th of each month.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Cheshire Life: Regional lifestyle magazine distributed free to affluent Cheshire homes, combining local editorial with display advertising sales. Closely comparable to Life Magazines in targeting affluent regional readers with community content monetised through SMB advertising.
• Yorkshire Life: Free regional lifestyle magazine distributed across Yorkshire, featuring local events, dining, property and community content funded by display advertising. Closely comparable to Life Magazines as a county-level free lifestyle title with an advertising-led revenue model.
• Lancashire Life: Free regional lifestyle magazine covering Lancashire with local features, food, property and community content funded by advertising. Directly comparable to Life Magazines as a free-distribution county lifestyle title serving a defined UK region.
• Kent Life: A5 regional lifestyle magazine distributed free to homes in Kent, featuring local interest content and advertising opportunities for local businesses. Comparable to Life Magazines in scale, free-distribution model and lifestyle/community positioning.
• Cotswold Life: Free regional lifestyle magazine distributed in the Cotswolds, featuring local interest content alongside advertising space for local businesses. Comparable to Life Magazines in format and as a hyper-local lifestyle title serving an affluent UK region.
• Sussex Life: A5 lifestyle community magazine distributed free to homes across Sussex, England, offering local content and display advertising to local SMBs. Directly comparable to Life Magazines in format (free regional lifestyle magazine), revenue model (advertising-led) and target customer (local businesses and residents).

Broad incumbents

• Iliffe News & Media: Independent UK regional publishing group producing local newspapers and lifestyle magazines across the East Midlands and East of England. Comparable to Life Magazines as a regional lifestyle publisher in overlapping geographies with an advertising-led model.
• Archant: Major UK regional publisher (now part of Newsquest/Reach) producing dozens of local newspapers and lifestyle titles including Sussex Life, Kent Life and Yorkshire Life. Comparable to Life Magazines as the dominant scaled operator in the same regional lifestyle magazine category.
• Reach plc: Largest UK regional news publisher, owning hundreds of titles across the country including regional lifestyle and advertising-supported publications. Comparable as a broad incumbent in the same print advertising market where Life Magazines operates.

Emerging players

• Country & Town House: UK lifestyle publication covering affluent towns and countryside with print and digital editions supported by display advertising. Comparable to Life Magazines in serving affluent UK audiences with lifestyle content and SMB-facing advertising, though with a national rather than hyper-local footprint.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/life__magazines
• Facebookfacebook.com/lifemagazinesnottingham
• Instagraminstagram.com/lifemagazines
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/life-magazines

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Life Magazines