The broadsheet Newbury Weekly News is to undergo one of the most dramatic changes in its 137-year history -by going tabloid.
The move will coincide with the installation of a £6mprinting press by the family-owned Newbury Weekly News Group.
Editorial director Brien Beharrell said she was “delighted” at the move. “Our research indicates that this is really what the majority of our readers want. Formal research within the last two years demonstrates that more of our readers than ever before need their local newspaper to be of a more manageable, easier-to-handle size.
“Equally significant has been the contact we have had with our direct home delivery subscribers.
“We have canvassed their views and a clear majority called for a change to tabloid even though we did not ask them that specific question.”
A number of the other publications that Newbury Weekly News Group publishes and prints, such as The Advertiser , Thatcham News and Newbury Business News are already tabloid, as is the arts, entertainment and leisure sections of NWN.
The 40-page property section will remain broadsheet. The first compact version of the paper will be on sale on 20 January.
By Sarah Lagan
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