Cardiff Life is one of the many up-market glossy's produced by Media Clash, a Bath based publishing…read morehouse that concentrates its efforts on putting together a suite of publications that cover some of the most desirable areas in the South West of England and South Wales. It's possible to find healthy stacks of these magazines in cafes and restaurants where it is permitted to take them away for free, even though there's a cover price... all very peculiar! The Cardiff publication "celebrates the best of city living". Published every three weeks, it includes features and classified adverts covering property, arts, dining and shopping, in Cardiff, Cowbridge and Penarth. The editorial is well written and the presentation of the content is colourful, and employs tasteful design principles. The only problem is that the stories that are featured don't usually tend to appeal to me as an individual, but occasionally they'll carry something of real interest.

Unfortunately it's an increasingly-rare event to have contact with a wonderful person at any…read morecompany, but that was indeed the fortunate experience I had with this publisher. I'd previously purchased two books by a terrific photographer, but this book of his turned out to only be available from the (small) publisher and they're located in England (and, consequently, the shipping cost was quite high). However; not only do I love the book, but my contact with a wonderful employee named Luke - via several e-mails - was really *terrific*. Meanwhile - although unsurprisingly - the book was packed *incredibly* well (and it might seem obvious when the book was being sent overseas, but I've certainly encountered less-than-stellar experiences in that regard). Lastly; the book was shipped very promptly.

Martin is The Big Issue vendor featured in the pictures. He's been selling The Big Issue on…read moreGloucester Road for the last five years. His story is an interesting one, and he's willing to share it with anyone who'd like to spend the time of day with him. He can also tell you a fair amount about Gloucester Road as well. He is both a landmark and a wellspring of information on this well loved street. Martin freely admits that The Big Issue has helped liberate him from his addictions, kept him out of jail, and made it possible to get his own flat. As far as he's aware the sales for The Big Issue have stayed pretty much the same regardless of the recession. He has noticed however, that there are a few less vendors out on the streets, and there are more 'foreigners' selling the magazine. As far as he's concerned, sales over the last five years have remained the same, allowing him to maintain a reasonable lifestyle. The format of the magazine has not changed a great deal over the last few years. It carries great editorial and picks up interesting stories that don't often get covered by other publications. I personally really appreciate the listings section, and the top ten things to do section has influenced my choices on a number of occasions.

Big Issue is a nationwide initiative developed to grant homeless people gainful employment in an…read moreattempt to build the esteem needed to get themselves off of the streets. The magazines are intended to take the place of 'spare any change?' and set people who have struggled to find work on the right track.. Although the journalism isn't always fantastic, there are some extremely interesting contributions from the people on the streets themselves. At the end of the day, you don't really buy the Big Issue to read it, you buy it because of the message of social change. The vendors are often enthusiastic and charming and nowhere near as intrusive as the 'charity muggers' who claim similar territory. So do the right thing, hunt for your spare change and buy a copy.

Reminiscent of The Guardian's Guide, The Cut is one of the best free listings magazines Bristol has…read moreto offer. On the whole, these freebie mags tend to be jammed packed with adverts making it all gloss and no content. The Cut is completely different - its main focus is to show locals Bristol's best of the best in the world of music, theatre, arts, comedy and food. This monthly guide has listings, interviews and features on local Bristol businesses and people. The writing is witty, fresh and interesting, and the design is arty and accessible. It's the essential magazine for locals and visitors to the city to find out where to eat, dance and laugh. As a well known cheapskate it takes a lot for me to say this - but The Cut is the only free magazine that I'd actually pay cold hard cash for (but am eternally grateful that it remains free of charge!) The best places to pick it up are in Park Street shops, St Nicholas Market and Thekla.

This is one of the newer free music magazines in the Bristol area. It's a wonder that so many…read moremanage to survive. You've got Venue the paid for listings magazine, then comes 247 Magazine for all your music needs and there's a couple more smaller ones, The Scene, Suit Yourself Magazine and now The Cut. What amazed me about The Cut is that it had no adverts in it. How the heck was it funded? If you've been in publishing at all you will know that free magazines rely on advertising to pay the bills. It is the bane of any journalists life, having to cut pages due to a lack of advertising to pay for the print run but The Cut does not appear to have this problem and I just don't get it. Perhaps they will start pulling in the ads in future editions? It's largely written by an ex Bristol Evening Post and Venue music writer who knows her stuff so is a good read and the ones I've seen have pretty good artwork too.

This "ethical quaterly" is widely distributed, free of charge, in the South West and is building…read morequite a reputation as *the* magazine around here for the eco-conscious reader. It's a big, A3-size newspaper-ish magazine, printed on recycled paper and very stylish in presentation. But ... I have to say, I found it very heavy in advertising and didn't feel it was the sort of magazine I could sit down and enjoy reading. It feels like a brochure for a lifestyle, full of adverts for eco-friendly products and events raising awareness of environmental issues. I think that's sort of the point of it, so that's fine, and, to be fair, there is a handful of features and reviews in each issue. It's definitely to be applauded for what it's doing which is promoting progress for the environment. I just wonder slightly if the people who pick this up to read it will already be doing all the things they're recommending and buying all the products advertised. Preaching to the converted?

The leading men's magazine in Wales, RedHanded has aimed at the 18-40 age-group since its launch in…read morelate 2003 - traditionally the section of the male population with the highest level of disposable income. Accordingly, the focus is on quality living and culture, cover features mostly centring on big name interviews with pop stars either hailing from or touring Wales. That's far from all each issue offers, however, with top Welsh sporting figures grilled, fashion shoots, travel features, picture profiles of some of the country's most beautiful women, plus regular columns and reviews of the latest cars, gadgets, books, films, gigs, bars and restaurants, all from professional journalists. And while previous mags from the region have aimed nearer the Nuts/Zoo end of the market (remember Tidy?), RedHanded takes a leaf out of higher quality publications such as GQ, ie more entertaining than titillating. Published quarterly, it's totally free to pick up from a range of bars and retailers across Wales, with a circulation of around 30,000. (Personal bias disclaimer: their contributors include present company)

Out of Hand Edinburgh provide an exceptional service. Dawn the Office Supervisor & Administrator…read moreprovided me with an area I was really struggling with. She made it so easy for me to make my posters/flyers possible at short notice. I am always grateful to Out of Hand for always providing the best quality and the most effective and professional service. Thank you so much. Highly, highly recommend them.

This firm took our money but failed to deliver the service we paid to receive. Trust is a huge…read morefactor in the flyer distribution business but naturally we always perform checks on new suppliers. Out Of Hand claim to demonstrate staff are doing their jobs by getting them to send you selfies at the beginning and end of the booked shifts. But our photos show their staff did not actually work for the allotted time. When we performed a check, at 6pm on 24 March 2017 at Bethnal Green Tube Station, we found no sign of the Out Of Hand distributors we had booked to work from 5pm - 7pm. When we contacted Out Of Hand's commercial director Nigel Muntz we were at first told the distributors had all "gone to get a bottle of water". We acquired photographic evidence showing the distributors were not present at the location and we waited until 7pm to confirm they did not return to complete any part of the shift.

Bristol University's long-established student paper, entirely run, written and published by a team…read moreof hard-working students. Since I've been at university the paper has improved enormously. Although the current layout is a bit of a Guardian rip-off, it's still looking a lot better than it was before. The website has also been developed and is looking fairly good at the moment. It's a decent student paper although nothing particularly ground-breaking. The quality of writing has improved although is still patchy. Some of the articles are a tad insubstantial or ill-thought out as well. I remember as well numerous teething problems in printing articles - it was heart-breaking to slave over a piece only to find that the closing sentence had been lopped off by a failure to size the page correctly before submission to the printers. Gripes aside, the Epigram is probably of minimal interest to anyone other than students. It's worth a flick through in moments of boredom but until it gets its act together is condemned to line dustbins.

The Epigram is the Bristol University paper, run, and written by the student body. It is published…read moreonce every 2 weeks, and is much the same as the paper you get through your letterbox, although a little broader and student orientated. I find the student directed articles frustrating. They are a complete waste of time and pretty irrelevant and get in the way of the rest of the paper, which directs good writing at interesting topics. The Epigram have recently created a new very impressive website, much like the national newspapers, which is worth a look if you can't get your hands on the actual publications. Pick one up in any of the student buildings.