The A4 36pp publication, to be launched in December, is published by Manchester-based The Big Spark, part of the Cradley Group.

Titled The Mag, it will have an initial print run of 20,000 and will be distributed across Fat Cat's 17 bars as well as its Bluu bar and Red House hotel chains.

"This type of publication is the area we have found to be our niche," said The Big Spark managing director Stuart Parker.

"We have felt our customers would benefit from their own magazine and The Mag will entertain and inform as well as being a marketing tool," said Fat Cat marketing manager Justin Cooper.

The Big Spark is the Cradley Group's contract publishing arm and was described as "embryonic" earlier this year in Cradley's 2003 results (PrintWeek, 31 March).