The North Norfolk News and Eastern Daily Press office in the coastal town of Cromer has closed down two months after publisher Archant revealed that it would be shutting five newsrooms.
The office on Church Street was a base for editorial and advertising staff in north Norfolk, but Archant say it was not occupied full-time.
North Norfolk News is a weekly paid-for newspaper with a circulation of nearly 4,000, according to ABC figures to the end of December 2018. Daily the EDP sells 25,600 copies.
It is understood that editorial and commercial staff who used the Cromer office will continue to work remotely in north Norfolk, but will use Archant’s headquarters in Norwich as an office when needed with the editor coming in once a week to send the paper to print.
Archant has previously said that it intends to sell the Norwich office, which is home to the Eastern Daily Press.
The distance between Cromer and Norwich is some 23 miles. A round trip between the two towns would take about an hour and a half.
In an update on its website, North Norfolk News said: “The North Norfolk News/Eastern Daily Press office in Church Street, Cromer, is now being decommissioned.
“The north Norfolk editorial team and advertising rep will now have their permanent base in Norwich, but will make every effort to be in the community as much as possible.”
An Archant spokesperson told Press Gazette no redundancies or title closures would result from the office move.
The regional publisher told staff in March that it planned to close five newspaper offices. Newsrooms in Suffolk and Hertfordshire are also set to be affected, it is understood.
Archant chief content officer Matt Kelly told staff at the time: “The amount of footfall we generate from having expensive office locations has plummeted in recent years and makes no sense commercially.”
Other regional publishers have also shuttered newsrooms in efforts to cut costs. JPI Media, formerly Johnston Press, revealed in March that it would close eight newspaper offices and move staff in 19 other leasehold properties to shared working spaces.
Reach closed a Hull Daily Mail office in Beverley earlier this month following Newsquest’s cut to an office in Peebles in April.
Picture: Google Maps
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