I saw this on Facebook so it must be true: ‘Deliverers wanted for the Warminster Journal. For all locations in Warminster.’
Hold on. Isn’t that the Warminster Journal that published its last edition on December 13 last year, bringing to an end 143 years of publishing in the Wiltshire town with the mournful headline, ‘Thank You And Goodbye’?
The front-page copy read: “It is with sad hearts that we must tell you this is the last Warminster Journal we are publishing. During the covid period many advertisers moved away from publications like ours onto online sales and they never came back.”
It was all a bit sudden, as confirmed by another Facebook post which said: “We are devastated to confirm that the rumours are true. Editor Ray has concluded this week to cease publication for good and has informed staff today. We are reeling at the abrupt decision just before Christmas. Thank you everyone for your support. We have done all we can and tried to serve our community as a newspaper should.”
But all, it appears, is not lost. Under the headline ‘The Warminster Journal is Coming Back!’ Joe McCann, operations manager for Wiltshire Publications, the independent newspaper group that produces the nearby Frome Times, the White Horse News and the Melksham News announced: “We’re thrilled to announce that the Warminster Journal is under new ownership!”
And he revealed: “As part of this exciting new chapter, we’re relaunching this much-loved publication in early 2025.”
McCann explained that it will follow the same successful format as the other titles delivered free door-to-door (hence looking for those deliverers) with a free online edition available for everyone.
The Warminster Journal was nothing if not idiosyncratic. Described by a fellow ex-editor turned media pundit (take a bow Steve Dyson) as “a time-capsule from front to back page”, it still persisted to the last with Every Word Of The Headlines Capped Up style favoured by American titles.
Like many local newspapers, the Journal had its genesis as a product of a printers. Coates and Parker trace their history back to 1799. Benjamin Coates founded the Warminster and Westbury Journal and Wilts County Advertiser as a weekly broadsheet newspaper in November 1881.
“The paper was the result of meticulous planning and some considerable investment in staff and machinery,” says the company website. “An extension to the premises had been built for the machine room the previous year and occupied half the garden, using the wall to support the roof – planning regulations were no doubt a little less prescriptive in those days.”
Fast forward to 2024 and a message on that same website says: “The Warminster Journal has been published since 1881 and was the ideal paper for advertising your business or event in the Warminster and Westbury areas. Unfortunately, publication has now been suspended.”
Reader Oliver Head, who doubles up as a producer and presenter for Warminster Community Radio, paid homage to the venerable title via one of the newest of mediums in a YouTube video: “This has been very sudden although at the same time, sadly, I’m not surprised. People have been getting news online for years now and of course by its very nature, news in the journal can be a week old or more.”
So, hats off to Wiltshire Publications for stepping up. As McCann says: “It would have been a shame to lose a newspaper with such a long and proud history. In an era when local newspapers are in decline, especially independent ones, it’s something to be celebrated that we are bucking the trend.”
Henley Standard still flying high
Just two hours northeast of Warminster, past Stonehenge and the modern wonder of the world that is Reading, lies Henley-on-Thames, scene of another independent newspaper ‘takeover’.
The Henley Standard, which has served the riverside town and its neighbouring villages since 1892, was in January sold by the Higgs Group to Baylis Media, which also owns the Maidenhead Advertiser and the Slough and Windsor Express.
In a story published in the Standard, Steve Luker, the joint chairman, said the Higgs Group has had a close association with Baylis for many years and is sure that the deal would allow the Standard to continue to thrive. He said: “We have come to understand Baylis Media’s commitment to publishing quality local news is a very close fit to ours. Like us, it values its staff, its local community and its customers.”
With its lovely Old English masthead and commitment to all things local – ‘Neighbours unhappy with retirement village plans’ covers a lot of bases – the Standard would be a revelation not only to that nice Mr Zuckerberg but also some of the homogenous group-think products from the big regional publishers.
Indeed, as John Luker, life president of the Higgs Group, who has been with the company since 1955 put it: “During that time, many local newspapers have been taken over by large groups and, while many tried to keep their identity, they undoubtedly lost their individuality.
“Although I retired from the board as long ago as 2008, I have always been proud that the Standard has continued for so long as an independent voice for Henley and its environs.”
Jeremy Spooner, managing director of Baylis Community Media CIC, said: “We are delighted that we now publish the Henley Standard. We are aware of the unique position that it holds within the town and are proud to be the custodians of this wonderful newspaper.”
What is a Community Interest Company (CIC)?
Over to those kind people at gov.uk: “CICs are limited companies which operate to provide a benefit to the community they serve. The purpose of a CIC is primarily one of community benefit rather than private profit.”
They go on to explain that, “CICs will become established as a brand of company that the public recognises and trusts and whose social purpose they understand.”
So far, so good, which is why the set-up has proved so appealing to small media businesses from the five title Post community newspapers, based in Stockport, to Social Spider Community News which produces five local news publications in northeast London via Hartlepool Life – “the free and weekly local newspaper! Positive news for positive people.”
The Louis Baylis Charitable Trust funded the purchase of the Henley Standard on behalf on Baylis Community Media CIC. Peter Sands, chair of the trustees said: “We, as a trust, are very focused on independent local journalism and its function within the communities they serve – to inform, support and, where necessary, to question and investigate on behalf of the people.”
Been there, done that…
Back in the day, when my age began with a two, I had my own brush with independent newspapers when I pitched up as editor of the Diss Express.
I gave up a comfy berth at the Cambridge (then Evening) News to win a bet that I would become an editor before I was 30. Diss, as those well-versed in East Anglia geography will know, is in the deep south of Norfolk about 25 miles from both Norwich and Ipswich.
It was owned by the modestly titled ‘World Media’ and run by entrepreneur Christopher Burr who was also a producer on Terrahawks, the sci-fi TV series he created with Gerry Anderson. Yes Gerry ‘Thunderbirds’ Anderson.
I was given two pieces of advice when I scaled the stairs above Fine Fare supermarket to reach the office, almost overlooking the famous mere (big lake) in Diss: 1) “There are some very valuable puppets in that cupboard, so never go in there”. You can guess the rest… 2) “The paper has been around since 1864 so don’t f*** it up now.”
It was a big patch, covering multiple parliamentary constituencies and local authority areas plus there were the niceties of the Norfolk / Suffolk divide to learn to appreciate, with one side declaring a disinterest in the other and vice-versa.
It was also home to the biggest chicken factory this side of Beijing and a Loch Ness style ‘Monster of the Mere’ so plenty for this young editor to get his teeth into.
What I learned was that an independent media company could be both entrepreneurial and nimble as well as ruthless. A variety of ‘non-traditional’ products came and went, including a trade magazine called ‘Van User’, which was motoring along very nicely until some creative accounting was discovered in the commercial department.
The editorial team were a mercurial bunch, some local, some “visiters”, some young, some more experienced. But somehow, we seemed to make it work. Sandwiched between the daily behemoths of the Eastern Daily Press and East Anglian Daily Times, there was plenty of media interest in this Mesopotamia of East Anglia and lots of stories to go at.
The Diss Express is now in the safe hands of Iliffe Media Group under the stewardship of editor extraordinaire Barry Peters operating from Bury St Edmunds. Sadly, that office up the rickety stairs is no more, but I wonder what happened to that cupboardful of puppets…
This article was first published in InPublishing magazine. If you would like to be added to the free mailing list to receive the magazine, please register here.
