2010 & beyond
The second decade of the century continued to be tough, and magazines – much like every other industry – suffered. But while other titles saw their circulations fall, our readers remained loyal and GH became the number one women’s monthly lifestyle magazine in the UK. Selling upwards of 444,000 copies every month, we reach three times as many readers today as we did in 1922.
After nine decades of bringing readers cookery advice through our pages, in 2014 GH opened a brand new Cookery School. Teaching classes of up to 10 students new recipes, intricate techniques, wine-matching and many other skills and ideas was a groundbreaking move for a magazine, and a long-held dream of GH’S Editorial Director, Lindsay Nicholson.
And there was no doubt that it coincided with huge interest in everything cake related, with the rise and rise of The Great British Bake Off – which made us all love Mary Berry more than ever. A regular in our pages, she appeared on our cover with another of our kitchen favourites, Jamie Oliver, in 2013.
And it’s not just GH celebrating our longevity: the decade has been dominated by the Queen, who became the UK’S longest-serving monarch in September 2015, a moment that GH marked with an affectionate tribute from some well-known people who had met her over the years. This year, she celebrates her Sapphire jubilee, with a record 65 years on the throne.
As GH turns 95, we continue to look for ways to celebrate you. Whether through conducting reader surveys, or meeting you at events, we like to think we have got to know you pretty well over the years – and what an inspiring group of women you are. When you told us you were celebrating growing older, we dedicated an entire issue to Generation Ageless, filled with inspiring stories, style secrets, and consumer advice on the new trend of growing older agelessly. We know that you love to travel, so whether we’re writing about the Greek Islands or the Galápagos, we’re determined to feed your wanderlust each month.
So where are we now? The world is a very different place to the one it was in 1922. Today, as well as buying the magazine each month, you can download it to your phone or tablet, you can visit us online, or watch the team hard at work via one of our Facebook live posts. But though the ways we reach you might have changed, the values we held dear when we launched almost a century ago remain unchanged. Here’s to 95 years… bring on 100!
We like to think we have got to know you pretty well over the years and what an inspiring group of women you are!