Vale Life

What Vale Life does

Vale Life is an independent, family-run lifestyle magazine published by Good Life Publishing and headquartered in Barry, Wales. Founded in 2019, it covers local community news, business promotions, fashion, food and drink, home and interiors, hair and beauty, bridal, and health and wellbeing for readers in the Vale of Glamorgan. The magazine operates a hybrid print-digital model: printed copies are distributed free through several hundred carefully selected outlets across Barry, Cowbridge, Penarth, Llantwit Major, Porthcawl and surrounding areas, while digital editions hosted on FlipHTML5 are read in over 60 countries with cumulative views exceeding 3.4 million.

The company's commercial model is built primarily on advertising sales to local small and medium-sized businesses, with print advertising starting at under £50 per month inc VAT, supplemented by digital advertising across the website and social channels (over 100,000 followers in the Cardiff and Vale area, 230,000+ across all platforms). Print subscriptions are sold at £20 for four issues, back issues at £5 each, and digital editions are free. A 1-10 person team handles editorial, advertising sales, and distribution. Ancillary revenue streams include website design services for local businesses and the MagBox white-label publishing solution, which allows third parties to launch magazines using the group's infrastructure. The Premier Club membership programme curates higher-tier advertiser relationships.

Vale Life operates within the broader Good Life Publishing group, which also publishes seven sister titles (City Life Cardiff, Gower Life, InBusiness, Rugby Life, Welsh Life, West Life, Wye Life). The company is bootstrapped with no external institutional investment, and revenue figures are not publicly disclosed. Key personnel are Editor and Group Managing Editor Jennifer Hobbs-Roberts and Creative Director Mark Roberts.

Name

Vale Life

Legal name

Vale Life Magazine

Website

https://valelife.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Vale Life is an independent, family-run lifestyle magazine covering community news, fashion, food, home and businesses in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales. It operates a print-digital hybrid model, distributed free across hundreds of local outlets and read digitally in 60+ countries, monetized through SMB advertising starting under £50/month.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Regional Lifestyle Magazine Publishing

NAICS

Periodical Publishers (51312)

SIC

Periodicals: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2721)

akta.pro primary industry

Consumer Lifestyle & Fashion Magazines (MPAJAEAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Health, Fitness & Wellness Magazines (MPAJAEAD), Home, Garden & DIY Magazines (MPAJAEAG)

Keywords

• Local lifestyle magazine
• Print advertising sales
• Magazine subscriptions
• Digital magazine editions
• Community news publishing

Headquarters

HQ city

Barry

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Print Advertising: Local businesses advertise in the printed magazine distributed across the Vale of Glamorgan. Pricing starts at less than £50 per month including VAT.
2. Digital Advertising: Advertising opportunities across website and social media channels with over 100,000 followers.
3. Magazine Subscriptions: Printed copies available by subscription at £20 for four issues. Digital edition is free.
4. Back Issue Sales: Back issues sold at £5 including postage and packing.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Vale Life publishes a regional lifestyle magazine in both print and digital formats covering fashion, food, home interiors, health, bridal, and community news for the Vale of Glamorgan. The company's primary commercial offering is advertising space (print and digital) sold to local SMBs, supplemented by paid print subscriptions and back-issue sales.

Product overview

Vale Life is a lifestyle magazine published by Good Life Publishing, a small artisan publishing company based in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales. The company operates Vale Life Magazine as its flagship product—a high-quality print and digital lifestyle publication covering local businesses, fashion, food, health, home interiors, and community stories across the Vale of Glamorgan region. The magazine is distributed to hundreds of locations and also available as digital editions read internationally. Good Life Publishing also offers related services including website design and the MagBox publishing solution for others looking to launch magazines.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Premier Club: A membership programme featuring local businesses that meet quality standards, with premier club members highlighted in the magazine.

Products and services

• Vale Life Magazine The flagship regional lifestyle magazine covering Hair & Beauty, Wellbeing, Fashion, Home & Interiors, Bridal, Food & Drink, and Legal & Finance, available in both print and digital formats and aimed at affluent local residents and advertisers in the Vale of Glamorgan.
• Vale Life Digital Editions Digital versions of each magazine issue hosted on the FlipHTML5 platform, promoted online and read internationally across PCs, tablets and smartphones in over 60 countries.
• Magazine Print Subscriptions Subscription-based print delivery of Vale Life Magazine, with four issues priced at £20 (cheques payable to Vale Life), aimed at local readers who prefer physical copies.
• Website Design Services Website design services offered to local businesses in the Vale of Glamorgan area as an adjunct to Vale Life's core magazine publishing activities.
• Premier Club Membership A membership programme featuring local businesses that meet quality standards, with Premier Club members highlighted in the magazine as a stamp of endorsement.

Quantifiable outcome

• 28,000-34,000 readers per issue
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

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 and minor.

• Good Life PublishingcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerParent publishing group that owns Vale Life and sister publications including City Life Cardiff, Gower Life, InBusiness, Rugby Life, Welsh Life, West Life, Wye Life. Provides shared resources, creative direction and cross-promotion opportunities.
• MagBox (Mag In A Box)minorOthersMagBox is a ready-made publishing solution created by Mark Roberts that allows others to publish their own magazines. Vale Life is part of this publishing ecosystem.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Welsh Life: Sister publication under Good Life Publishing covering Welsh lifestyle content nationally — directly comparable business model (print + digital + advertising + subscriptions) with overlapping editorial team and infrastructure.
• Devon Life: UK regional lifestyle magazine covering Devon with the same print + digital + local advertising + subscription model and similar affluent regional reader demographic.
• Wye Life: Sister publication under Good Life Publishing serving the Wye Valley region. Mirrors Vale Life's artisan, family-published regional lifestyle magazine model.
• Cotswold Life: Established UK regional lifestyle magazine covering the Cotswolds, serving a similarly affluent regional audience with print + digital + local SMB advertising — a benchmark UK county lifestyle title.
• Yorkshire Life: Long-running UK regional lifestyle magazine covering Yorkshire with a print + digital model targeting affluent readers and local advertisers — directly analogous business format at greater scale.
• West Life: Sister publication under Good Life Publishing covering West Wales with the same print + digital + advertising business model and shared creative team.
• InBusiness (Magazine): Sister B2B-oriented publication under Good Life Publishing covering Welsh business. Comparable publisher model with shared sales and editorial infrastructure.
• City Life Cardiff: Sister publication under Good Life Publishing focused on Cardiff city lifestyle. Operates the same advertising-driven, print+digital magazine model targeting local SMB advertisers and urban lifestyle readers.
• Gower Life: Sister publication under Good Life Publishing covering the Gower peninsula in Wales. Uses identical publishing infrastructure, content categories (fashion, food, home) and advertiser base.

Broad incumbents

• Country Living: Major UK lifestyle magazine from Hearst UK covering countryside, home, food and crafts. Targets an overlapping affluent, predominantly female audience but operates nationally at significantly greater scale and broader advertiser base.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/ValeLife
• Facebookfacebook.com/ValeLife
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/vale-life-ltd
• Instagraminstagram.com/valelifemagazine

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

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 Vale Life