Local Welsh website the Caerphilly Observer is to launch a new fortnightly tabloid newspaper next month.
Launched in 2009, the Observer becomes the second South Wales website to announce a move into print this month – after the Port Talbot Magnet.
Founder Richard Gurner said he has been able to make the move into print because of a European Union-funded business grant from Caerphilly County Borough Council.
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It is to receive funding to help produce its first four editions from the council’s Caerffili Cwm a Mynydd Rural Development Programme Partnership. It is part funded through the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) and the Welsh Government.
He said: “When I returned to Caerphilly in 2011 to work on the site, after setting it up while I was living in Brighton, I said it had long been a dream of mine to own my own newspaper.
“That dream will be fully realised next month when we launch our first edition. Publishing a fortnightly newspaper will be hard work, but I am convinced it is the right move.
“The response to the website we’ve had from readers and businesses alike has been overwhelmingly positive, but the the question they keep asking us is when are we going into print? We decided to satisfy that demand and I’m thrilled to be fulfilling a life-long dream.”
He claims the website currently gets 50,000 page views and 20,000 unique visitors a month.
The print edition will be in full colour and 16 pages long, with a circulation of 10,000 copies. It will be free and available to pick up in shops and newsagents.
Gurner said: “Caerphilly County Borough doesn’t have a newspaper dedicated exclusively to the entire area and it is this gap in the market that we will be addressing.
“The goal for Caerphilly Observer is to create a sustainable, locally-owned media that our readers can be proud of.
“Despite huge traffic numbers that we can be proud of, there are still large parts of our community unfamiliar with Caerphilly Observer. A print edition will expand our audience and grow our brand to reach people not already online.”
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