The Hull Daily Mail is to split into four main editions to reflect the diversity of the area it serves.

There will be a new East Riding edition from Monday March 25, with its own news and features.

The new set-up will mean that there will be a Hull Daily Mail first edition and final, as well as the East Riding Mail first edition and final. Changes won’t be made wholesale to the pages but the first nine pages will be devoted to copy that has a special treatment, presentation, emphasis and relevance for the East Riding area of Yorkshire. All editions will be updated with breaking news.

The changes have been made on the back of extensive research: it was the readers themselves that asked for the change.

Editor John Meehan said: “Clear and consistent messages came through.

“Our readers wanted more coverage and prominence for East Riding stories and issues and they wanted more news from their own tightly-defined community – their neighbourhood, village, or town.

“But they also stressed their interest in Hull. Many people who live in the East Riding work in Hull, shop there, spend their leisure time there, and have roots and relations in the city.”

The paper only became the Hull Daily Mail in 1986 and before then was The Daily Mail, a title it had borne since 1885.

East Riding readers now account for 40 per cent of sales of the Mail and the figure is growing. But because of the current edition structure some people living in the East Riding area pick up a city edition that might give less emphasis to the stories that affect them.

John said: “The Mail is changing and I believe our readers will like the difference.”

All this week the newspaper’s promotions team has been spreading the word about the new service and the Mail’s mobile exhibition unit is visiting various venues to hand out information and bags of goodies.

Vanessa Beardshaw, the newspaper’s promotions manager, said it has generated a huge amount of interest.

She said: “People are really looking forward to the launch of the East Riding Mail. They’ve heard a lot about it and now cannot wait to get their hands on a copy.”

To give the publicity a boost every home in the east of the circulation area has been leafleted, and the Mail is hosting two family fun days to coincide with the launch.

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