The Times' popular legal blog Baby Barista has been withdrawn by its author Tim Kevan, who said he did not want it to be the exclusive preserve of a limited few subscribers.

Kevan's move is considered a setback to the newspaper group's controversial decision to charge readers for its online news content.

The barrister and writer said he thinks the imposition of "a blanket subscription over the whole of their content" will be a disaster, noting that there are many innovative ways of making cash online.

He said it would appear that the newspaper group is unable to cope with the diversification of media by the internet. He also criticised their top-down strategy to stop the rise of free content.

However, he thanked The Times for hosting Baby Barista for the last three years.

The blog, which narrates fictional accounts of a junior barrister, has now shifted to its own website babybarista.com.