As I make the short walk into the office each morning, I must be the only person who is actually walking into Manchester Piccadilly train station. Don’t worry, I don’t have a fetish for spending time in train stations - my journey is entirely selfish. Seldom does a working day go past when I don’t pick up a copy of the free newspaper, Metro.

NEWS COVERAGE

For the more topical news stories, the main articles will often be backed up with short Metro Briefings, which answer key questions related to an issue in the news. Once again, I find these very useful as they are kept concise and don’t require too much time to digest. On the occasions that I actually buy a national newspaper as well as pick up a copy of Metro, I find the content to be very similar, and to be honest would struggle to find a reason why there is any point paying for the other newspapers. That aside, for readers who are thirsty for information or who wish to become absorbed in a long read, Metro will be far too brief. There is also a lack of editorial content, which I like because I generally resent having to read the spurious rants of newspaper editors, but some readers may find the lack of bias rather bland.

SPORT AND FINANCIALS

The Business News section of the Metro is very brief and would really only provide information to readers with a passing interest. The FTSE 100 share prices are published as well as basic daily financial performance data, but for anyone working in the financial sector, I would imagine that the level of content is very inadequate. As I don’t work in that sector, I find the simplicity of the information very useful and generally find the business news much more accessible as a result. It really is a question of individual requirements.

Metro’s greatest asset for me is its superb entertainment pages. Every day Metro Life publishes film and music reviews, as well as a complete guide to what’s on in the city. In one place I have complete terrestrial and satellite television listings, as well as details of all the film showings at the various city cinemas. There are then sections for theatre, clubbing, music events, comedy clubs, exhibitions and concerts. There is even a daily listing for gay and lesbian events. Although I have occasionally bought magazines containing this sort of information, I have never seen a comparable free guide anywhere in the UK and it is absolutely invaluable. The Metro Life section increases my awareness of what’s going on in the city massively.

The quality of the journalistic content is very good, although not particularly stretching. News stories are told in a matter-of-fact way and the language tends to be very impersonal. Some of the entertainment reviews are more personal - and often more entertaining - but with space constraints, they also tend to be rather brief. I have seen coverage of stories that filled four or five pages in the tabloids being covered in a short column in Metro. What this does mean is that the paper tends to be free from conjecture - there simply isn’t the space to keep dwelling on pontification and What Ifs.

Needless to say that Metro contains a fair number of advertisements to justify its existence, but for a free paper they certainly don’t dominate the pages. Indeed, I think the level of advertising is comparable with any of the paid tabloids. Metro newspaper has a more youthful feel to it, and the adverts generally seem to reflect this - I seem to find more of interest in this paper than any other free equivalent. There is a liberal dosage of colour and large font too - so you don’t find yourself straining to read reams of endlessly small black type.

OVERALL VERDICT