Northern & Shell
Company type | Limited company |
---|---|
Founded | December 1974 |
Founder | Richard Desmond |
Headquarters | Lower Thames Street London, EC3 United Kingdom |
Services | Publishing and television |
Owner | Richard Desmond |
Website | www.northernandshell.co.uk |
Northern & Shell (holding company name Northern and Shell Network Ltd) is a British
Northern & Shell has operated The Health Lottery in the UK since it launched in 2011.
History
Desmond founded Northern & Shell in 1974 and launched a magazine called International Musician and Recording World. In 1983, Northern & Shell obtained the licence to publish Penthouse in the United Kingdom which led to its publishing a range of pornographic titles,[4] Asian Babes among them.[5][6] The company's business model for pornographic magazines focussed on specialisation and niche publishing, with multiple titles produced at low cost and targeted at particular tastes.[7] These titles were later sold in 2004. It was the first company to move to the revamped Docklands and the Princess Royal opened the offices.
When the company moved to the Northern & Shell Tower in Canary Wharf, the Duke of Edinburgh opened the offices.[7]
In the early 1990s Northern & Shell began to publish a wider range of magazines, including comics and the gay lifestyle magazine Attitude. Other titles were For Women, a women's magazine launched in 1992 in the style of Cosmopolitan but with nude male photosets, and the celebrity weekly OK!,[7] which started as a monthly in 1993.
In November 2000, Northern & Shell acquired Express Newspapers from
Northern & Shell's "portfolio" of soft-porn magazines was offered for sale in 2001 in order to provide cash to invest in the then newly acquired Express Newspapers group. Some viewed the sale as an attempt to distance the company from the pornography business, but most analysts believed it to be only a financial move as
In 2004, Northern & Shell sought acquisition of additional publications — The Spectator and The Daily Telegraph, along with its sister publication The Sunday Telegraph. It was unsuccessful in its bid for The Telegraph, losing out to David and Frederick Barclay, who had long sought to own the paper.[10]
On 23 July 2010, Northern & Shell bought Channel 5 Broadcasting Limited, which operates
In 2013, Northern & Shell announced that its TV listing magazine TV Pick would no longer be published.[13]
In 2014, Northern & Shell invested in a series of startups under the brand Northern & Shell Ventures.[14] This included investments in OpenRent, Tepilo and Lulu.[15][16]
In February 2018,
Building
The building at 10 Lower Thames Street was built in 1985[18] and has a distinctive blue glass facade. It was first built for Samuel Montagu & Co.[19] It is now partly occupied by N&S and partly rented out as serviced offices.
The building featured in the TV series Bergerac, Series 6 Episode 6 "A man of sorrows", the building frontage badged as Insurance company Norman Deutscher Greenburg. Inside the building features some wonderful interior lifts with panoramic views overlooking the foyer.
References
- ^ Banham, Mark (17 March 2011). "Richard Desmond's four decades in magazines". www.campaignlive.co.uk. Archived from the original on 8 November 2021. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
- ^ "Portland TV". Portland TV. Retrieved 26 June 2013.
- ^ "Richard desmond sells adult tv channels for less than £1m". Campaign. Campaign Live. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
- ^ "About Northern & Shell". Northern & Shell. N&S Network. Archived from the original on 20 January 2007. Retrieved 22 December 2006.
- ISBN 0-304-33963-6, pp.191-192
- ISBN 1-84150-164-6, p.57
- ^ ISBN 9780813535197.
- ^ Jorn Madslien (12 February 2006). "Profile: Richard Desmond". BBC.
- ^ "Desmond to sell 'adult' titles". BBC News Online: Business. BBC. 11 January 2001. Retrieved 22 December 2006.
- ^ Ben Richardson (23 June 2004). "Does the Telegraph bid add up?". BBC News Online Analysis. BBC. Retrieved 22 December 2006.
- ^ "RTL Group sells UK broadcaster Five" (Press release). RTL Group. 23 July 2010. Retrieved 24 July 2010.
- ^ "Viacom to buy Channel 5 for £450m". BBC News. 1 May 2014. Retrieved 1 May 2014.
- ^ "Desmond's TV Pick closes after 22 issues". The Guardian. 29 July 2014. Retrieved 4 July 2015.
- ^ "Northern & Shell Ventures".
- ^ Steve, O'Hear. "Online Renting Service OpenRent Scores Media-For-Equity Deal From Northern & Shell Ventures". TechCrunch.
- ^ "Richard Desmond: Google are gangsters, but wear fantastic sweaters". The Guardian.
- ^ "Mirror buys Express titles from Richard Desmond". BBC News. 9 February 2018.
- ^ "Northern & Shell Building". Buildington.
- ^ Planning Application 16/01252/FUL https://www.planning2.cityoflondon.gov.uk/online-applications/files/E10718A1BAED9E3BF59846668C4FDB96/pdf/16_01252_FULMAJ-DESIGN_AND_ACCESS_STATEMENT_PT_1-355418.pdf[permanent dead link]
External links