About Us

The Sheengate Story

“We’re journalistically, as well as commercially, motivated. We want to provide something interesting and relevant to the local community and we’ve been lucky with the quality of our writers – some of our content has to be aspirational, but I think we’ve always managed to ensure there is a deeper element too.

CON CROWLEY, PUBLISHER

Sheengate Publishing was founded in 1998 by Alex Whitney and Con Crowley with the launch of The Richmond Magazine. We are now Surrey, SW London and Berkshire’s largest independent publisher of luxury local lifestyle and property magazines, with 11 titles covering six of the UK’s 10 richest boroughs. In 2018 the company turned twenty, and as part of the celebrations one of our longest serving editors interviewed Con and Alex about the origins of the company. You can read the full interview here: The Page Boys.

Company Timeline

1998 – The Richmond Magazine launches
2000 – The Elmbridge and Kingston Magazines launch
2001 – The Guildford Magazine launches
2005 – The Surrey Downs Magazine launches
2008 – The Barnes Magazine launches
2009 – The Woking and Farnham Magazines launch
2013 – The Windsor, Maidenhead & Ascot Magazine launches
2015 – The Wandsworth and Clapham Magazines launch
2018 – The Chiswick Magazine launches

Meet The Team

Alex Whitney

MANAGING DIRECTOR

Brought up in Hampstead, Alex is the son of TV, film and radio entrepreneur John Whitney CBE. Alex started his career in estate agency before taking up a highly specialised role selling investment strategies to private clients. In the late 80s Alex began his publishing career at the vanguard of local magazines in SW London working in sales before going on to launch titles of his own. He is one of the founding partners of Sheengate Publishing, responsible for the commercial management of its publications.

Con Crowley

PUBLISHER

A Kew-bred journalist by profession, Con has extensive experience in local media. He helped launch The Guardian Free Newspaper Group in the 1970s, editing The Kingston Guardian at the age of 25, going on to launch and edit various magazines for different publishing groups and local newspapers before starting out on his own. He is one of the founding partners of Sheengate Publishing and oversees all of the editorial functions for its publications.

Stewart Turner

GROUP SALES MANAGER

Stewart came to Sheengate Publishing in 2011 after a lengthy stint in the events industry. Having successfully overseen the logistics of distribution for the magazines and launched new title The Windsor, Maidenhead & Ascot Magazine, he went on to supervise the rebranding of the company and launch of its websites before being appointed Group Sales Manager, overseeing the Sheengate sales team across its entire print and digital portfolio.

Sandy Krupa-Taylor

GROUP PRODUCTION
SENIOR DESIGNER

Sandy has acquired over 30 years’ experience in the design and print industry, dealing with all aspects of artwork through to final print. After working for a variety of design companies, she joined the Sheengate team in 2002. Sandy’s design experience and job management skills have made a huge impact on the quality of the magazines and she now leads the production team across the entire Sheengate print portfolio.

Samantha Laurie

GROUP MANAGING
EDITOR

Starting her career at The Financial Times, Sam worked on a number of business publications in the City before moving into lifestyle journalism. She published Small Planet, a series of Surrey-based parenting guides and began life at Sheengate with a regular column for families. She edits The Elmbridge and Kingston Magazines, and oversees editorial content across all the magazine titles and website.

Beth Marlow

GROUP ACCOUNTS & HR
MANAGER

After graduating from the University of Bath, Beth began her career in the city working for a number of high-end financial institutions. Her extensive background in the fiscal management of blue chip companies combined with experience overseeing strategic organisational development for SMBs have allowed her to handle the accounting and HR demands at Sheengate with great success, supporting the growth of both the business and its employees.

Kirsty Bane

SENIOR SALES EXECUTIVE
ELMBRIDGE AND KINGSTON MAGAZINES

Kirsty started at Sheengate Publishing in 2017, initially working as a Sales Executive on The Richmond and Barnes Magazines. Due to her excellent work ethic and sales talent, she was quickly promoted to the role of Senior Sales Executive for The Elmbridge and Kingston Magazines, a position in which she has thrived. Prior to working at Sheengate, Kirsty spent eight years learning her craft in the oil industry as a senior B2B Account Manager.

Niki Hornsby

SALES MANAGER
WINDSOR, MAIDENHEAD & ASCOT MAGAZINE, RICHMOND AND BARNES MAGAZINES, WANDSWORTH AND CHISWICK MAGAZINES

Niki is an experienced salesperson specialising in local lifestyle media. She started her career at Newsquest, and was a Regional Sales Manager at Trinity Mirror for six years before taking up a role as Group Advertising Manager for Baylis Media. Her extensive knowledge of Berkshire has seen her make an instant impact as Sales Manager of The Windsor, Maidenhead & Ascot Magazine. In 2020 she has also added another 4 magazines to her management portfolio.

Richard Nye

EDITORIAL
CONSULTANT

The longest-serving member of the editorial team, Richard Nye has worked as a feature writer, editor and sub-editor on every Sheengate title and was Editor of The Richmond and Barnes Magazines until 2014. He currently works as an editorial consultant across all of our titles. Educated at King’s College School, Wimbledon and Christ Church, Oxford, he is also a freelance writer, editor and sub editor and is the author of the travel book Railblazing.

Sophie Farrah

EDITOR
RICHMOND AND BARNES MAGAZINES

SW London born and bred, Sophie began her career in television production, working for the likes of the BBC, ITV and more, before moving to London’s National Theatre where she worked as a producer. As a freelance journalist, she has written for numerous national publications on a variety of subjects, notably food and drink, travel, and more. She joined Sheengate Publishing in 2015 as a food and drink editor and features writer, working across all titles, before taking over The Richmond and Barnes Magazines, our flagships titles, in 2021.

Alice Cairns

EDITOR
GUILDFORD AND SURREY DOWNS MAGAZINES

Educated at Oxford University, at 26 Alice is the youngest editor in the company’s 20-year history. Windsor born and bred, she was offered the editorship of The Windsor, Maidenhead & Ascot Magazine after showcasing her excellent writing talent as a theatre reviewer on Essential Surrey & SW London.