Tackle & Guns, a central force in trade press for the past 68 years, has closed its doors and ceased publishing.
“Following the recent death of my father I was faced with a very difficult decision,” says T&G publisher, Nick Marlow. “I tried for several months to run my father’s fishery, The Glebe in Leicestershire, concurrently with publishing Tackle & Guns. But sadly it was an impossible task. Both the fishery and the magazine are full-time jobs and with only one of me, one had to go. The magazine, although important to me, is not a family legacy – and so that made the decision a bit easier.”
Nick acquired T&G as a loss-making business when David Hall Publishing got into financial difficulty in 2017. Since then he has taken the title from strength to strength, publishing what has become a very popular and profitable title.
“It’s not every day you have to take the decision to close a profitable business but needs must,” says Nick. “While people will often tell you that print is dead, when it comes to B2B they are very wrong – and T&G is testament to that. I have no doubt that Gun Trade Insider will fill the gap admirably.”
Nick notes that while not every company out there understands trade publications, the ones that grasp the concept do better.
“I’ve edited trade publications for 25 years and owned T&G for eight years,” explains Nick. “Over that time, I have had thousands of conversations with companies, some of whom instantly grasp the idea of B2B – and some that only understand the concept of marketing to the consumer.
“Invariably, the ones that understand that the only people that pay their bills are retailers, and market to the trade successfully, grow faster. That’s fact.”
Nick would like to personally thank his loyal advertisers for their business.
“Over the years I’ve made a great many friends in the fishing and shooting trade. They understand the need for trade publishing and although I can no longer fill that need, there are other channels out there and hopefully they will grasp these and continue to push their own businesses forwards.”
