Publishers of Distinction

In little over 15 years, PSP Publishing Ltd has become one of the most significant players in the Scottish publishing industry, a dynamic, driven company built upon a solid foundation of application, endeavour and teamwork.

Founded as Pro-Sports Promotions Ltd in 1995, the company is the brainchild of three friends who noticed that, despite being the ‘Home of Golf’, Scotland was bereft of its own, dedicated golf title. Thus, by launching ‘bunkered’, Pro-Sports Promotions had secured a lucrative market niche. Almost 15 years later, bunkered is the country’s biggest-selling golf title, with ABC Audited Sales of 22,714 per issue.

The rapid popularity and success of bunkered required the company to expand at a rate of knots, which also enforced the relocation from a small office in Glasgow city centre to a larger facility in Anniesland, in the west of the city.

It was there that, as the company’s reputation grew, Pro-Sports Promotions was approached by a host of associations looking for a publisher to take on their respective titles, amongst them the Scottish Forestry Commission and the Mountaineering Council of Scotland.
Various golfing bodies also soon entrusted the production of their annual publications to the company, including the Professional Golfers’ Association and the Scottish Golf Union.

However, not content with having one title of its own, as well as a number of significant other contract publishing jobs, Pro-Sports Promotions launched Scottish Club Golfer, a bi-monthly newspaper covering the amateur and grass-roots golf scenes in Scotland.

Distributed free-of-charge to all golf clubs in the country, it was an instant and massive success and prompted the launch of sister publications in England and Wales. English Club Golfer and Welsh Club Golfer also represented Pro-Sports Promotions’ first forays into publishing industries outwith Scotland, with English Club Golfer being produced six times per year, and its Welsh counterpart four times.

By this point, the company was beginning to diversify and strengthen its impressive portfolio and the launch of Scottish Bowler, a quarterly publication and the official title of the Scottish Bowling Association, underpinned Pro-Sports Promotions’ commitment to niche sports in Scotland.

This commitment was recognised by VisitScotland, the country’s primary tourism body, which selected the company as preferred publisher for its annual golf guide, with contracts to produce the organisation’s fishing, walking, adventure sports and mountain-biking guides in the subsequent years.

As a consequence, and by the end of 2005, Pro-Sports Promotions was firmly recognised as one of the most significant and prosperous publishing companies in the country.

Not content to rest on its laurels, however, 2006 saw the beginning of an exciting new chapter in the history of the company with the launch of its glamorous, glossy, Scottish ladies’ lifestyle magazine, “No.1”. Published 17 times per year, it was produced to provide a direct Scottish alternative to the raft of London-based ladies’ titles that had saturated the marketplace.

Written by Scottish women for Scottish women, it quickly became recognised as a genuine competitor to its more established national market rivals. No.1 has proven so successful, that it now produces its own bi-annual Wedding Directory as well as six other bespoke No.1 supplements.

Also in 2006, the company broke new ground by releasing its first truly national, UK-wide title, “Nationwide Bowler”. Born out of the success of its predecessor Scottish Bowler, Nationwide Bowler is a quarterly title and is delivered free-of-charge to all bowling clubs in the United Kingdom, covering every aspect of the sport, from grass-roots level to the top end of the professional game.

With the successful launch of both of these new titles, and the continued significant growth of the company’s existing publications, the decision was taken to re-name Pro-Sports Promotions as PSP Publishing, in line with the company’s forays into new, non sports-orientated markets.

PSP Events was also established at this time. This came on the back of the successful first staging of the bunkered Matchplay Challenge in 2004, a biennial Ryder Cup-style golf match organised by the company and played between the leading Scottish amateur golfers and their home-based professional counterparts.

With the foundations for PSP Events having been laid with this tournament, the company took a bold step in launching the Scottish Golf Show in 2006, a three-day annual retail show that, four successful years later, remains the first of its kind in the ‘Home of Golf’ as well as one of Europe’s most highly-regarded golf events.

Indeed, 2009 heralded something of a new beginning for PSP Events, signaling bigger and better things to come. Not only did the ever-popular Golf Show exchange its Royal Highland Centre venue for the more expansive and extravagant Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre (SECC) in Glasgow, but there was also the debut of the No.1 Girls’ Day Out show.

The three-day event, which specialized in everything from beauty and cooking to fashion and fitness, also staged at the SECC, gained much interest via national publicism and was an unmitigated success, attracting around 15,000 visitors.
Plans are already underway for the 2010 installment and, if 2009 was anything to go by, the most recent installment will be nothing short of spellbinding.

In 2010 PSP has set itself ever-higher targets, with the publication of over 60 publications and organization of several events continuing to take place from its purpose-build Glasgow city centre office, which the company moved to in autumn 2007.

This five-storey premises is a constant, lively hub of activity that offers commanding, panoramic views across the city to the hills in the distance at every compass point.

In many ways, this hill-top building represents what PSP has become: an icon of publishing, a beacon of professionalism and a symbol of what can be achieved through hard work, positive application and a passion for excellence.

And, as new titles are added, new projects undertaken and new colleagues warmly welcomed, there can be no disputing that the sky really is the limit for PSP Publishing Ltd, its titles, its events and, most of all, its employees.

Events in 2011 by PSP Publishing Ltd

The Scottish Golf Show - Dates - 8th to 10th April, 2011

The Girls' Day Out Show - Dates - 6th May to 8th May, 2011

Both events are being staged at the SECC in Glasgow

Copyright © 2009 PSP Publishing LTD   Registered Office: 50 High Craighall Road   Glasgow   G4 9UD   Registered in Scotland No. 158316
Tel: 0141 353 2222    Fax: 0141 332 3839    Email: sales@psp.uk.net    Calls may be monitored or recorded for training purposes.