Editor’s Letter: Welcome to High Life North 2.0.

We’ve been busy…find out what’s new.

The 1st May 2021 marks exactly 18 months to the day since the launch of High Life North, back in November 2019.

I’d had the idea late Summer 2019. I loved reading digital magazines like Stylist and Sheerluxe – the content was exactly what I wanted but there was just one thing missing, it was all London-centric. Yes, we’ve got some fantastic print publications in the North East which showcase what our region has to offer. But I still felt like there was a gap for my generation. A digital-only publication that wasn’t just lifestyle.

A website that gave career advice as well as restaurant recommendations. That had honest conversations around challenging topics alongside interiors advice and fashion. Basically a one-stop-shop for women in the North East to access everything they wanted – and to introduce them to new ways to make the most of living in the region.

Fast forward 18 months and I can’t believe the progress we’ve made.

We went from my kitchen table to an 8-person office in Gosforth.

We consistently have over 37,000 unique readers each month.

We’ve built a social media community of more than 18,000 across Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn, with more than 1 million impressions every month.

We’ve got three full-time staff that I’ve been so lucky to find – they love High Life North as much as I do and have all played a huge part in getting us to this next stage of growth.

We’ve built a community of women in the North East who recognise and know High Life North – who refer to us regularly and love the magazine. This still blows my mind and is what I consider our greatest achievement so far. 

We’ve discovered literally hundreds of independent businesses in the region (and further afield) and introduced them to our readers.

We’ve created our own ‘HLN Digital‘ – our secret sauce blend of digital marketing for ourselves and our advertisers which has seen us experience this exponential growth.

So what’s new, today?

I woke up this morning with a buzz in my stomach. Today feels really momentous for us. We’re launching a completely new website with improved functionality and much better navigation. 

We’ve used our analytics to look at what our readers love and without a doubt, it’s two main things:

• Being introduced to new businesses in the region
• Finding all of the best places to eat, drink and be entertained

So we’ve also launched The Little Black Book. This will be your go-to guide for making the most of living the High Life in the North East. We have curated a list of the best of the North East’s independent and small business scene, from hairdressers to hotels, cafes to co-working spaces. You can filter by location and business type to make sure you can always find what you’re looking for.

This is the start of High Life North 2.0. With our foot on the accelerator, we can’t wait to show you what’s coming next.

Thanks so much to everyone for your continued support – don’t forget to keep giving us feedback and letting us know what you want to see. Love you all!

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