Punch to close after 160 years

Punch magazine is facing closure after more than 160 years due to serious financial losses.

The magazine, now owned by Harrods boss Mohamed Fayed, will be closed despite his investment of £16 million in an attempt to boost its ailing fortunes over the past six years.

Mr Fayed said: "I have done everything in my power to keep Punch alive by pumping in massive amounts of cash. But, as a businessman, sometimes the head has to triumph over the heart and it is therefore with great regret that I have decided to close."

Founded by wood engraver Ebenezer Landells and writer Henry Mayhew, Punch was inspired by the French satirical daily Charivari. The first edition of Punch was published on 17 July 1841 and it gained a reputation as a " defender of the oppressed and a radical scourge of all authority".

In the Forties it sold 170,000 copies, but suffered its most serious drop in circulation in the Eighties.

Mr Fayed tried to revive Punch in 1996 after a four-year closure but subscriptions have since fallen to less than 6,000. The title will live on in the form of a website. Eight of the 12 staff will be made redundant.