Don’t make your lede too long or complex or overloaded — just lay it down simple, short and smooth.
Here’s an example of an accurate if annoying lede, written by Patch‘s Richard Kaufman and posted on Saturday, 6.18:
Here’s the HE rewrite, tapped out in no time:
After 34 years in business in downtown Greenwich, Greco’s Bella Cucina is closing up shop for good.
The family-owned eatery (“Yo, Frankie!”) was killed by the lingering effects of the pandemic (nearby offices closed, more people working from home) along with inflation and whatnot.
A GoFundMe page stated that “the lunchtime business has evaporated, [and that] Express Pizza has incurred debts beyond the scope of what can be repaid to keep its doors open.”
Located in the fabled Chickahominy neighborhood, the restaurant was formally or tongue-twistingly known as Express Pizza Grecco‘s Bella Cucina. But that’s all gone now, and many of us are the poorer for it.