Say the name DC Thomson and my thoughts automatically turn to its iconic comic, the Beano. I don't imagine I'm alone in that sentiment.

While the Beano's heydays of selling a couple of million copies a week are long gone (circulation now is circa 47,000), the publisher still has two magazines in the top 100 UK titles by circulation according to the recent release of ABC figures. Can you guess what they are?

Hovering just outside of the top 50 is The People's Friend, with a circulation of 291,394. And squeaking in at 99 is My Weekly, with 134,393 copies. 

Both titles are weeklies, so we are looking at more than 1.7m magazines a month for the pair. Throw in the comic portfolio (this morning I learned of the existence of Beano Max 'aimed at the slightly older reader') and that rises to the best part of 2m. Cripes!

Little wonder, then, that high-level delegations from the likes of Polestar, Prinovis, St Ives and BGP (and no doubt others) have been beating a path to Dundee since news of the publisher's plans to disband its inplant printing operation became public in June. Whoever wins out will certainly be ordering the traditional slap-up dinner of bangers and mash, perhaps with a cow pie on the side.