Like any bunch of ageing ex-hacks, those of us in the ‘Former Evening Standard Employees’ Facebook group are fond of reminiscing about the past. Occasionally, it’s at boozy reunions, when we recreate afternoon epics in the Elephant pub near the old Kensington office. More often, it’s when posting online RIPs to old colleagues who’ve passed to that great newsroom in the sky – sometimes, sadly, well ahead of deadline.
The last few days, though, a Facebook page often dedicated to mourning bygone scribes and sub-editors has suffered a rather wider bereavement. Last week, it was announced that the Standard would cease its daily newspaper altogether, ending two centuries of print-runs in the capital. Instead, there’ll be just the website, plus a once-a-week edition – the Weekly Standard? – which will be a news-and-lifestyle digest. No more front pages showing 9/11 or Grenfell as they were unfolding. No more breaking the news that London had won the 2012 Olympics – or, the very next day, the story of the 7 July Tube bombings.
The Standard could never quite make up its mind who exactly its readers were
For those of who worked at the paid-for Standard of yesteryear, which produced five editions a day between 7 a.m.
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