Trinity Mirror has closed down its first title following its merger with Local World – weird local news website Quirker.
According to Trinity Mirror the site employed four journalists: one had already handed in his notice, one is a contractor and two are set to work on other projects.
A spokesperson said: “The decision has been made to close Quirker as we focus on the integration and digital development of the Local World and Trinity Mirror portfolios."
Trinity Mirror bought Local World in November in a move which made it the largest UK regional newspaper publisher by some margin.
Quirker was launched by Local World in June 2015 with a remit to take the “weirdest and most wonderful stories” from the group’s local newspapers around the country and they to repackage them for a national audience.
Press Gazette understands that having reviewed the site, Trinity Mirror management felt it was not attracting enough traffic to me viable.
The Quirker homepage no longer exists online. All traffic to Quirker, including URL links to old stories, now redirects to the “weird news” section of the Mirror website.
In May, Trinity Mirror closed three Buzzfeed-style websites – Ampp3d, UsvsTh3m and Row Zed – with 14 jobs lost as a result.
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