Trade Journals

For many decades LEN served as the principal trade rag of the British lighting industry. Introduced in 1967, it filled a gap that was not adequately served by its principal competitor, the long-standing Light and Lighting journal of the Illuminating Engineering Society, which it ultimately usurped. Many early lighting products were born out of the most advanced scientific research of their era, and as such the industry's journals had a strong focus on the publication of academic research papers on lighting equipment and their applications. These were often far too technical for the average layman.

The rich era of the 1960s introduced a terrific expansion of the lighting industry, and saw a major shift from pure technical functionality towards increased aesthetics. This was fuelled by fast-moving new trends in lamps, luminaires and their applications. Lighting Equipment News was established to communicate these exciting developments to the masses. Its format evolved into the form of a broadsheet newspaper, renowned for its consistent speed in being first to report on new products and industry trends. The enthusiasm of the news sections was backed up by highly informative editorials, pitched at a technical level to interest the average specifier or installer of lighting equipment. For many years the author of this website served as the magazine's associate editor, with responsibility for light sources and control gear.

The series ran until 2005 when the then editor of LEN, Ray Molony, took control via his own publishing company. He ably elevated both the graphical standards as well as the editorial content, and re-branded this staple of the British lighting industry into the considerably higher-class format of his internationally-acclaimed Lighting magazine.