The daily Nuneaton News has become the latest casualty of widespread cutbacks being made across the Local World group by its new owner Trinity Mirror.
The daily edition is to close, with the weekly free version remaining. According to the National Union of Journalists some four out of seven editorial roles are to go.
Its office in the town of Nuneaton, Warwickshire, will close with the majority of the remaining staff being based at Tamworth, Staffordshire, some 16 miles away, and one reporter to be based at the Coventry Telegraph in Coventry, about ten miles away.
The Trinity Mirror-owned Coventry Telegraph will bring out a Nuneaton edition.
Chris Morley, the NUJ’s Northern and Midlands organiser, said staff on the title had been left “heartbroken and distraught” by the announcement, saying it felt “like a bereavement”.
He added: “A small but extremely dedicated and motivated editorial team at the Nuneaton News has served the borough faithfully for many years.
“But within less than a year of Trinity Mirror’s takeover of Local World, this great asset to the community, with its distinctive and original coverage will be broken up and yet one more of the UK’s daily publications will be no more.”
The Nuneaton News was founded 24 years ago as an independent newspaper. It was bought by the Iliffe Group in 2006 before ownership passed to Local World in 2013 which was bought out by Trinity Mirror in a £220m deal last November.
Earlier this week the Scunthorpe Telegraph’s David Atkin became the fourth Local World editor to depart since the Trinity take over.
Last month it was announced that 14 jobs would be lost across Local World titles in the South West after Trinity Mirror decided to close a number of newspaper websites and replace them with the Somerset Live and Gloucestershire Live news sites.
A Trinity mirror spokesman said: “The Nuneaton Telegraph, published daily, will provide more local news coverage for the area through an increase in change pages. It will be complemented by a bolstered weekly Nuneaton News.
“As a result of this announcement, there will be a reduction of approximately four roles and staff affected are now in consultation.”
The final edition of the daily Nuneaton News is expected to come out on 4.
The title’s daily sale does not appear to be audited by ABC.
Trinity Mirror has said it is looking to make savings of £12m a year from the Local World budget.
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