Former regional press editor Nick Hudson has moved to Spain to take on a new job as editorial boss of a new national newspaper for Brits in Spain.

Nick, a former editor of the Folkestone Herald series, the Coalville Times and the Paisley Gazette and Barrhead News, has joined thinkSPAIN/today, which is currently a regional weekly covering the Costa Blanca.

The paper is due to relaunch as a national on September 14 – circulating throughout Spain and the Balearics – and will also be available on many flights from the UK to Spain.

Nick says the move will make thinkSPAIN/today Spain’s first national English-language newspaper, and will also target British tourists thanks to an exclusive deal with Dawson Media Direct which will put the paper on flights.

Nick, (54), said: “This job is the realisation of every journalist’s dream – the editorship of a national newspaper, plus living in the most beautiful country of contrasts in the world with sun-drenched days and a healthy climate.

“What more could you ask for? It’s certainly a universal pick-me-up after the weather Britain has endured this year.”

Nick (pictured) said the new-look title was set to be fun, as well as newsy.

He said: “We’re here to enjoy and relax as well as inform. This title is for Brits in Spain and, as the title suggests, those thinking of settling in the country.”

He said the new national, masterminded by former British exhibitions boss Berni Walker, had been the Holy Grail for newspaper publishers for 30 years since Brits turned to Spain and its islands as a tourist destination.

He said: “Many publishers have wondered how they might start a national newspaper for the British market in Spain.

“On September 14 that particular summit will be reached with the first Spain-relevant newspaper in English.”

Nick, a former boss of Raymonds Press Agency in Derby, is no stranger to launches and revamps.

He helped entrepreneur Lionel Pickering bring out new Trader titles in Nottingham and Nuneaton in the 1980s as well as other frees for various proprietors in Sandwell, south Birmingham – and the ill-fated Mill House Media Sunday titles in Stoke, Sutton Coldfield and Tamworth.

He was also launch editor of the St Austell Voice in Cornwall in April 2006.

Before moving to Spain to take on the role of group editor he had worked at the Derby Evening Telegraph on a “sabbatical subbing spell”.

thinkSPAIN started as an internet-only business, thinkSPAIN.com, in 2003 by newspaper and publishing company Grup de Premsa Independent, and two years later it became independent through a management buyout.

After the buyout, thinkSPAIN.com grew rapidly and currently receives more than a million visits each month.

Last September the company bought popular Costa Blanca regional title The CB Friday – covering Alicante, Valencia and Murcia, and changed its name to thinkSPAIN/today to reflect future ambitions.

It has more than 50 staff based in Xaló, Alicante, and as a new national will be available in newsagents throughout Spain as well as on flights from UK airports to all the major air terminals in Spain plus VIP and business airline lounges for British Airways, GB Airways, Iberia, bmi and bmi baby, jet2, Thomas Cook and XL Airways.

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