Tindle Newspapers has announced the acquisition of monthly free newspaper the Chew Valley Gazette from Northcliffe subsidiary Bristol News & Media.
The deal will see the five staff based in the Chew Magna offices transfer to Tindle.
Group chairman Sir Ray Tindle said: ‘We are delighted the Chew Valley Gazette is joining the group. It has served the community well for some years and will continue to do so.
‘The future of the press in Britain is with the truly local newspapers. I am grateful to Northcliffe for this opportunity.”
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Vice chairman of the Tindle Group Brian Doel added: ‘The Chew Valley Gazette would fit in very well with the Tindle papers in the area. It already had the right philosophy and would be welcomed by all our colleagues.”
Tindle’s other titles in the area include the Somerset weeklies Midsomer Norton and Radstock Journal, the Wellington Weekly News and the West Somerset Free Press.
In a statement Northcliffe managing director Steve Auckland also claimed the Gazette ‘fits well’with Tindle’s portfolio, adding: ‘While we feel sorry to let the title go, this move means the business will continue to have a positive future’
The latest activity from Tindle comes a month after it launched its latest title the Chepstow Review, with other launches this year including the Pembroke and Pembroke Dock Observer and the Chingford Times
In October 2010 Tindle bought the 130-year-old The Forester newspaper, based in the Forest of Dean, from Gloucestershire Media Group, another subsidiary of Northcliffe Media.
In July of this year Sir Ray Tindle urged his editors to launch their way out of the ‘ghastly recession’- despite revealing two of his newspapers have seen revenues more than halved since the beginning of the downturn.
Last month he increased his stake in rival regional newspaper publisher Johnston Press for the third time in three months, from 6.36 per cent to 7.17 per cent, making him the company’s third-largest shareholder.
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