Sugar redesigned itself in December — Hachette closed the print edition in March

Hachette Filipacchi UK launched Sugar in October 1994, and for a decade it was a fixture of the British teen magazine shelf. Then the paying readers drained away: circulation fell from 250,099 to 113,320 over five years, and across the decade the drop was 75 per cent, according to ABC figures.

In December 2010 Sugar relaunched with a larger format and better paper stock — a magazine spending its way out of trouble. Two months later the print edition was dead: the March issue, on sale February 23, was the last monthly, with one final Sugar Beauty Special to follow in April. A spokeswoman put the blame on the readers' new habits: 'Over the past decade the teen magazine market has declined by 75% as teens spend their media time on mobile and web platforms and increasingly expect to receive content for free.'

The publisher's arithmetic was blunter still. Rita Lewis, publisher of Sugar, Elle and Elle Decoration, called print 'no longer a viable business' and pointed to Sugarscape.com — the site launched in 2007 — which 'delivers a healthy return'. The print editorial and advertising teams went into consultation, with the company promising to do its utmost to redeploy staff; editor Annabel Brog's future inside the house was unknown. Above it all, parent Lagardère was negotiating the sale of its international magazine portfolio to Hearst — Sugar's print edition did not survive the transition.