Haymarket Media Group

History[edit]

Haymarket began in 1956, under the name Cornmarket Press. Clive Labovitch and Michael Heseltine – later a Cabinet minister under Margaret Thatcher and Deputy Prime Minister under John Major – who had met at university, started out with the 1957 Directory of Opportunities for Graduates, and in 1959 relaunched Man About Town, which was to become an influential (if unprofitable) men's consumer magazine. The company failed in its relaunch of the British news weekly Topic, the title closing at the end of 1962, within three months of the takeover.^[1] The partners split in 1965, with Heseltine renaming his half of the business Haymarket Press to publish Management Today.^[2] In 1967 British Printing Corporation merged its titles into the company too. New titles included weekly Autosport, monthly Lithoprinter (later known as PrintWeek) and Gardener's Chronicle (GC). The company was renamed Haymarket Publishing; owing to its growing presence in online media and live events, it was rebranded as Haymarket Media Group in 2007.^[3] Haymarket has laboured under heavy borrowings since Michael Heseltine returned from politics to take the helm and to buy back large minority shareholdings from Lindsay Masters and Simon Tindall, who had managed the business in his absence. These borrowings were reduced to some extent by the sale of properties. The company is now managed by Heseltine's son Rupert.^[3]