Print

[Mycroft]

James Taylor has just posted to his Facebook followers that the next published Land Rover Owner magazine will be the last. Full text below. Incidentally, if you don't follow James on Facebook ("James Taylor Roverphile"), he posts lots of detailed articles, occasionally touching on our favourite machines. I haven't felt the need to buy many copies of LRO, preferring CLR and of course B2L, but it's sad to see a car magazine - any car magazine - fold.

"I’m sad to say that an official announcement has been made by Bauer Media that publication of LRO magazine will be indefinitely paused (their words) and the last issue will be the one with a May cover date that goes on sale on 12 April.
There have been rumours about a major change for some time, and no doubt more information about the failure of alleged negotiations to sell the magazine will become available in due course. However, Bauer cite the primary reasons for their action as reduced sales, reduced advertising income (both of course caused by migration to online media) and increased prices of paper, printing and distribution. Essentially, there's no profit or not enough profit in it any more.
I rejoined LRO in 2012 after a period with other magazines, and during which I was Editor of Land Rover Enthusiast for nearly ten years. I first wrote for LRO in 1990.
I don’t yet know what will happen to my Roverphile column, which has been running for more than 25 years in various magazines and which I know is widely enjoyed. I hope it will survive somewhere, although I will not be receptive to proposals for major changes to the format.
To those I’ve dealt with and met through LRO, I’ll say a big Thank You. You now have one less demand on your hard-earned pennies every month, which may be a good thing; but you will also have one less Land Rover-related fix every month, which is not such a good thing.
Whether a market exists for any more new Land Rover magazines is something I don't know. However, wouldn't it be good if somebody created one devoted to the classic Defender in all its forms? Would you buy it? I'd certainly write for it!"

[Exile]

Sad to see it go, especially as an outlet for James' research.

But to be honest, I haven't bought it for a number of years.

I hope it make CLR magazine more viable, with less competition.

[Mycroft]

Sad to see it go, especially as an outlet for James' research.

But to be honest, I haven't bought it for a number of years.

I hope it make CLR magazine more viable, with less competition.

Spot on Exile . I hope James isn't too proud to offer his services to CLR - both would benefit.

[Alan Drover]

My LRO subscription expires October 2023. No mention of refunds. I'll have to phone the subscription section.

[Peter Holden]

I am quite sure that this forum and the LRSOC forum would be quite happy to see his posts

[LN11AAB498A]

Yes it`s a pity to see LRO close down. For many years they, & others, have been an important entry into LR interest & ownership, just like this forum. Yet another by-product of the so-called social media.

LRO in 2021 had 162 pages, compare that with 2008 when it had 234 and of those many were advertising, that's a lot of revenue to lose

I cancelled my LRO subscription a couple of years ago when I started with CLR, a membership which I coincidently renewed only today, a two-year subscription amounting to £3.75 per issue.  That has got to be great value.

[Devon2a]

The jungle drums have been saying that LRO was on borrowed time for the last few months.

It's not my position to cast aspersions, The magazine is no where near as full as it used to be and bauer obviously have the final say.

Hopefully John, Neil, Mark etc the rest of the team can find other avenues for their creative talents.

And as mooted above maybe James could work with CLR as he is a go to in terms of historical know how and a bit I always read. 

[ChrisJC]

Oh well, I have been a subscriber since the first year of publication. I kept them all, only selling my complete collection last year as it was taking up too much room.

I had been mithering about cancelling my subscription for a while, because it had become very formulaic. Like _very_ formulaic. Apart from the likes of Roverphile, or the workshop section, there was precious little else of any depth.

What it lacked in my opinion was some articles properly probing how the vehicles worked. I think the last proper article like that was about the ABS on the Range Rover Classic!! With all of the tech on modern vehicles, some articles about e.g. Ingenium, ACE, EAS, the TDV8's, etc would have improved the mag no end.

But there we are, I will have to subscribe to something else.

Chris.

[Eve]

Presumably there will not now be a LRO show this year (had they lined up a new venue to replace Peterborough Showground after its closure?) 

[Mycroft]

Presumably there will not now be a LRO show this year (had they lined up a new venue to replace Peterborough Showground after its closure?) 

The economics on shows can be quite different - and separate. I was once involved in a mag that closed down, but we kept the show going for a while. I'll let you know if I hear more.

[Alan Drover]

There's recently been too much focus on expeditions abroad rather than the nuts and bolts of running Land Rovers and I don't have much faith in some of the answers in the Technical Queries section.

[rusty66]

That’s sad. It opened the whole Landrover world to me. LRO came directly from the gods and took me on a fantastic ride with every copy.

As a student in the UK in the early 1990s I eagerly awaited each new issue which I bought at the campus newsagent and read in one go in my dorm room the same evening, only to re-read it for the next weeks (ok, read some Shakespeare and lots of other books, too. If I remember about two to three a week).

I started rummaging on scrapyards back then and casting an eye on every Series Landy I saw, and upon my return to Germany I bought my first Landrover, an early 1980s 109, still as a student and with a limited budget. And I started subscribing back then.

I still have these copies of LRO in the basement and from time to time a take the odd old issue and read it for the memories.

I stopped subscribing when CLR came out as I felt that by that time too much content didn’t really address me. Incidentally, I cancelled my CLR subscription a while ago as there wasn’t enough workshop and hands-on material in it for me either.

Maybe I should re-subscribe? I miss the good old real paper reading.

[Mycroft]

That’s sad. It opened the whole Landrover world to me. LRO came directly from the gods and took me on a fantastic ride with every copy.

As a student in the UK in the early 1990s I eagerly awaited each new issue which I bought at the campus newsagent and read in one go in my dorm room the same evening, only to re-read it for the next weeks (ok, read some Shakespeare and lots of other books, too. If I remember about two to three a week).

I started rummaging on scrapyards back then and casting an eye on every Series Landy I saw, and upon my return to Germany I bought my first Landrover, an early 1980s 109, still as a student and with a limited budget. And I started subscribing back then.

I still have these copies of LRO in the basement and from time to time a take the odd old issue and read it for the memories.

I stopped subscribing when CLR came out as I felt that by that time too much content didn’t really address me. Incidentally, I cancelled my CLR subscription a while ago as there wasn’t enough workshop and hands-on material in it for me either.

Maybe I should re-subscribe? I miss the good old real paper reading.

Good memories.

It's sad - and ironic - that physical publishing is struggling at a time when interest in the cars has never been higher.

In an ideal world, some of the know-how would migrate to CLR.

[kev]

I stopped buying LRO many years ago.
Overpriced and full of adverts.

[vod80]

We had the French language edition of LRO down here. That only lasted about three issues before disappearing!