I noticed a funny thing on my regular late-night trip home on the Tube last night. The usual throng of ABC1 theatregoers were heading back to Chiswick, Kew, Richmond and similar upmarket parts of London (I got off before them at Hammersmith in case you were wondering), joined by after-work drinkers and the young crowd who had been into town for the night.
But as well as reading their West End show programmes, thelondonpaper and London Lites, more than a fair sprinkling of them were reading the revamped London Evening Standard.
Previously it would have been exceptionally rare to see someone reading the Standard on the Tube that late at night, but presumably this is a function of the new policy of giving away copies in theatre-land after the free paper distributors have gone home.
It was also interesting to observer the way people - generally older passengers - were reading the Standard. Rather than snacking on the paper in the way readers do with the freesheets, people were spending time on each page, reading the articles and, presumably, taking in the advertising. And rather than discarding the paper half way through their journey, having already flicked through it, most people took the Standard home with them.
I readily accept that this is an unscientific observation by one person of the type I hate, but I'm sure I have identified a change in behaviour on one small stretch of the Tube network. It will be interesting to see if this is replicated across town.
If the Standard can re-engage with an upmarket, affluent audience that has lost touch with the paper by giving away a few copies in central London late at night it might just make its much-derided policy pay dividends and garner more advertising.
