The Esher News & Mail series was relaunched this month, doubling the quality broadsheet in size by adding new lifestyle pages and launching an extra edition.
The Weybridge News & Mail launched on 5 February and the series has taken on two extra journalists.
Market research discovered that while readers trusted the news coverage, saw the title as a key campaigner and were spending a long time reading each edition, they wanted more.
Now editor Elaine Cole is able to say: “What we are giving them is twice as many pages of news and features about their community.
“Our rival titles, owned by Newsquest and Trinity, have been centralising their offices quite far from here and consequently their local coverage has become weaker.”
The News & Mail now includes food and drink, travel, fashion, health and beauty and business sections. News and sport have also been expanded.
“What we have found is that people do not want to know what is happening in places 10 miles away. They want to know what is going on on their doorstep and in their high street,” explained Cole.
The Esher News & Mail series is part of Surrey & Berkshire Newspapers, which is owned by the Guardian Media Group.
By Jean Morgan
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