British newspaper executives Jonathan Harmsworth and Murdoch MacLennan, from DMGT, were reportedly inspired by the idea and flew to Stockholm on a 'fact-finding mission' to develop their version.

Metro was launched initially as a London-only newspaper with an original print run of 85,000 copies, which were distributed via dedicated bins in London Underground stations.

[5] In the years following its launch, the paper's distribution was gradually expanded to other major UK cities, including Manchester and Birmingham.

[5] At the time of its tenth anniversary in 2009, the newspaper was distributed in sixteen "major" UK cities and its circulation had grown to 1.3 million.

[9] Despite the increase in readership, that same year, management also closed five regional Metro offices in Manchester, Glasgow, Newcastle, Birmingham, and Bristol, which were responsible for producing regionalised arts, entertainment, and food pages, citing "challenging economic conditions".

[15] The newspaper struck a reported £2.25 million deal with sportswear manufacturer Adidas to run cover wrap adverts on each of the 17 days of the Olympics.

Young's appointment coincided with several changes at the newspaper, including the separation of the print and online editions, along with an expansion of Metro's distribution in the UK.

In 2023 the newsroom was restructured into one team for both print and online led by editor-in-chief Deborah Arthurs, resulting in some redundancies including editor Ted Young.

There are no regional editions within England and Wales, except for occasional differences in sports and arts content catered to specific local audiences.

A separate, small team produces a Scottish edition of Metro; however, often the only substantial difference between the two versions is the front page.

A popular feature of the letters pages is Rush-Hour Crush, in which readers send in anonymous messages to fellow users of public transport who they consider attractive.

The features section contains a mix of articles on travel, homes, style, health and science, as well as arts coverage and entertainment listings.

[17] Before the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, Metro published a cover-wrap advert on behalf of the Leave campaign, paid for by the Democratic Unionist Party.

Editor Ted Young said both adverts, which each cost more than £250,000 to place, generated around 300 complaints each, accusing the newspaper of both pro- and anti-Brexit bias.

[33] Concerns were subsequently raised over why the Democratic Unionist Party placed an advert in Metro because the newspaper does not publish in Northern Ireland.

[34] In May 2019, the paper was condemned by the National Union of Journalists and the Public and Commercial Services Union,[35][36] after an internal document leaked to The Guardian showed evidence that Amber Rudd, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, had authorised the use of at least £250,000 of public money for a ten-week run of advertorials to be placed in Metro newspapers to "challenge the myths" around the government's controversial Universal Credit programme.

[38] In June 2019, the Daily Mirror reported that 80 UK charities had filed a complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority over "misleading Universal Credit adverts in Metro".