Readers are continuing to desert the “girls and gadgets” formula of men’s magazines in favour of the internet, while an older generation is prepared to fork out for gardening magazines and interview-rich glossies.

Official figures released on Thursday revealed that Loaded, which started the era of “lads’ mags” when it launched in 1994, endured a precipitous decline between January and June, with average sales falling 27.9 per cent to 102,000 in spite of give-aways such as this month’s inflatable beer bucket: “Takes 20 beers! Floats in a pool!”