Northern & Shell (holding company name Northern and Shell Network Ltd) is a British

publishing Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

group, founded in December 1974 and owned since then by

Richard Desmond Richard Clive Desmond (born 8 December 1951) is a British publisher, businessman, and former Pornography, pornographer. According to the 2021 ''Sunday Times Rich List'', Desmond was the 107th richest person in the United Kingdom. He is the fo ...

. Formerly a publisher of pornographic magazines including '' Penthouse'' and ''

Asian Babes ''Asian Babes'' was a British pornographic magazine which featured Softcore pornography, softcore photographs of women of South Asian, Korean people, Korean, Chinese people, Chinese, Japanese people, Japanese, Vietnamese people, Vietnamese, Filipi ...

'', it published the ''

Daily Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first ...

'', ''

Sunday Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet ...

'', '' Daily Star'' and '' Daily Star Sunday'', and the magazines ''

OK! ''OK!'' is a British weekly magazine that primarily specialises in royal and celebrity news. Originally launched as a monthly magazine, its first issue was published in April 1993. In September 2004, ''OK''! launched in Australia as a monthly ...

'', '' New!'' and ''Star'' until these were sold to

Trinity Mirror Reach plc (known as Trinity Mirror between 1999 and 2018) is a British newspaper, magazine and digital publisher. It is one of the UK's biggest newspaper groups, publishing 240 regional papers in addition to the national ''Daily Mirror'', '' ...

in February 2018. Northern & Shell also owned three entertainment television channels: Channel 5, 5* and

5USA 5USA is a British free-to-air television channel owned by Channel 5 Broadcasting Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Paramount Global, which is grouped under Paramount Networks UK & Australia division. It was launched on 16 October 2006 as ...

until 2015. It owned Portland TV, which operates

pornographic Pornography (colloquially called porn or porno) is sexually suggestive material, such as a picture, video, text, or audio, intended for sexual arousal. Made for consumption by adults, pornographic depictions have evolved from cave paintings ...

TV channels including Television X and Red Hot TV; the company sold Portland in April 2016. Northern & Shell has operated The Health Lottery in the UK since it launched in 2011.

History

Desmond founded Northern & Shell in 1974 and launched a magazine called ''

International Musician and Recording World International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

''. In 1983, Northern & Shell obtained the licence to publish '' Penthouse'' in the United Kingdom which led to its publishing a range of pornographic titles, ''

'' among them. The company's business model for pornographic magazines focussed on specialisation and niche publishing, with multiple titles produced at low cost and targeted at particular tastes. These titles were later sold in 2004. It was the first company to move to the revamped Docklands and the

Princess Royal Princess Royal is a substantive title, title customarily (but not automatically) awarded by British monarchs to their eldest daughters. Although purely honorary, it is the highest honour that may be given to a female member of the royal famil ...

opened the offices. When the company moved to the Northern & Shell Tower in

Canary Wharf Canary Wharf is a financial area of London, England, located in the Isle of Dogs in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The Greater London Authority defines it as part of London's central business district, alongside Central London. Alongside ...

, the

Duke of Edinburgh Duke of Edinburgh, named after the capital city of Scotland, Edinburgh, is a substantive title that has been created four times since 1726 for members of the British royal family. It does not include any territorial landholdings and does not pr ...

opened the offices. In the early 1990s Northern & Shell began to publish a wider range of magazines, including comics and the gay lifestyle magazine''

Attitude Attitude or Attitude may refer to: Philosophy and psychology * Attitude (psychology), a disposition or state of mind ** Attitude change * Propositional attitude, a mental state held towards a proposition Science and technology * Orientation ...

''. Other titles were ''For Women'', a women's magazine launched in 1992 in the style of ''

Cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan may refer to: Internationalism * World citizen, one who eschews traditional geopolitical divisions derived from national citizenship * Cosmopolitanism, the idea that all of humanity belongs to a single moral community * Cosmopolitan ...

'' but with nude male photosets, and the celebrity weekly ''

'', which started as a monthly in 1993. In November 2000, Northern & Shell acquired Express Newspapers from United News & Media for £125 million, enlarging the group to include the ''Daily'' and ''Sunday Express'' titles, the ''Daily Star'' and ''Daily Star Sunday'' (which Desmond started), and the ''Irish Star'' (owned jointly with the Irish Independent group). The ''Daily'' and ''Sunday Express'' each sell around 700,000 copies per issue. Northern & Shell had borrowed £97 million (approximately US$190 million) for the Express group purchase. Northern & Shell's "portfolio" of soft-porn magazines was offered for sale in 2001 in order to provide cash to invest in the then newly acquired Express Newspapers group. Some viewed the sale as an attempt to distance the company from the pornography business, but most analysts believed it to be only a financial move as The Fantasy Channel, Northern and Shell's adult cable channel, wasn't included in the sale. In 2004, Northern & Shell sought acquisition of additional publications — ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British political and cultural news magazine. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving magazine in the world. ''The Spectator'' is politically conservative, and its principal subject a ...

'' and ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'', along with its sister publication ''The Sunday Telegraph''. It was unsuccessful in its bid for ''The Telegraph'', losing out to

David and Frederick Barclay Sir David Rowat Barclay (27 October 1934 – 10 January 2021) and Sir Frederick Hugh Barclay (born 27 October 1934), commonly referred to as the "Barclay Brothers" or "Barclay Twins", were British billionaire brothers, of whom Frederick Barclay ...

, who had long sought to own the paper. On 23 July 2010, Northern & Shell bought Channel 5 Broadcasting Limited, which operates Channel 5, 5* and

for €125 million (£103.5 million) from the

RTL Group RTL Group S.A. ("Radio Télévision Luxembourg") is a Luxembourg-based international media conglomerate, with another corporate office in Cologne, Germany. The company operates 56 television channels and 36 radio stations in Germany, France an ...

. On 1 May 2014, the channels were sold to Viacom for £450 million (US$759 million). In 2013, Northern & Shell announced that its TV listing magazine ''TV Pick'' would no longer be published. In 2014, Northern & Shell invested in a series of startups under the brand Northern & Shell Ventures. This included investments in OpenRent, Tepilo and Lulu. In February 2018,

purchased Northern & Shell's publishing operations (titles including the ''Daily Express'', ''Sunday Express'', ''Daily Star'' and ''Daily Star Sunday''; and three celebrity magazines, ''OK!'', ''New!'', and ''Star'') for £126.7 million.

Building

The building at 10 Lower Thames Street was built in 1985 and has a distinctive blue glass facade. It was first built for Samuel Montagu & Co.Planning Application 16/01252/FUL https://www.planning2.cityoflondon.gov.uk/online-applications/files/E10718A1BAED9E3BF59846668C4FDB96/pdf/16_01252_FULMAJ-DESIGN_AND_ACCESS_STATEMENT_PT_1-355418.pdf It is now partly occupied by N&S and partly rented out as serviced offices. The building featured in the TV series Bergerac, Series 6 Episode 6 "A man of sorrows", the building frontage badged as Insurance company Norman Deutscher Greenburg. Inside the building features some wonderful interior lifts with panoramic views overlooking the foyer.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Northern and Shell Mass media companies of the United Kingdom Mass media companies based in London Publishing companies based in London Mass media companies established in 1974 Publishing companies established in 1974 1974 establishments in England Privately held companies of the United Kingdom