As the West Country’s Sunday Independent newspaper celebrated 200 years in print, owner Sir Ray Tindle said he believed local newspapers will continue to grow despite the current economic climate.
The paper celebrated its 200th anniversary with a celebration lunch with guests including former England and Plymouth Argyle footballer Peter Shilton and the Lord Mayor and Mayoress of Plymouth.
Sir Ray Tindle, whose newspaper empire includes 230 titles across England and Wales, said the press had successfully survived all the previous recessions along with two world wars.
He said: “Of course local newspapers will not only survive the present situation but like Peter Shilton and Plymouth Argyle, they will rise to greater heights in the future as the press has always done over the past 200 years since the Sunday Independent was born.”
The Sunday Independent launched in 1808 as The Plymouth and Dock Telegraph.
The newspaper was bought by the Daily Mirror Group in the 1960s and was used as a base for the group’s training scheme.
The group sold the title in 1981 to Brian Doel, now the Tindle group managing director, in a management buy-out with Sir Ray Tindle. The paper was later sold to Newsquest, but bought back by Tindle in 2004.
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