Newsquest’s upmarket free weekly Eastbourne Independent ceases publication

The Eastbourne Independent has ceased publication.

Stands for the free weekly are understood to have been removed from across the Sussex town and the title’s accompanying website has not been updated since 23 July.

The Independent was set up in September last year – an apparent response by Newsquest to Johnston Press buying a free weekly in Brighton called the Brighton Independent where Newsquest’s daily The Argus is based.

The Eastbourne Independent has a similar masthead to the Brighton Independent and similarly offered readers a more up-market free newspaper.

The paper’s launch put it in competition with two paid-for weeklies in Eastbourne, the Herald and Gazette, both published by Johnston Press.

Websites for the Hastings Independent and Worthing Independent, both Sussex towns, were also bought by Newsquest but remain unused.

The Eastbourne Independent is understood to have one full-time member of staff, editor Peter Lindsey.

ABC figures for the Gazette and Herald, both last audited in 2011, showed the former had an average circulation of more than 8,000 copies while the latter recorded just under 21,000 copies.

Newsquest has declined to comment.

Topics in this article : Johnston Press