Herts & Essex Newspapers has dropped its Stevenage edition of the Hertfordshire Mercury.

The paid-for Stevenage Mercury hit the streets for the last time on Friday.

It had suffered poor sales in an area also served by The Comet, a free weekly from competitors Archant.

The move will not result in any job losses.

The series is also made up of the flagship Hertfordshire Mercury, the Royston and Buntingford Mercury, the Hoddesdon and Broxbourne Mercury and the Cheshunt and Waltham Mercury, which together have a weekly circulation of more than 31,000.

Gary Matthews, managing director of Herts and Essex Newspapers, said the group would continue to cover Stevenage, with the Hertfordshire Mercury sold in the same outlets as the Stevenage Mercury had been.

He said: “Following the takeover of Hertfordshire on Sunday from LSN Media, which gives us more presence in North Herts, we are reviewing our publishing operations.

“We will still be in Stevenage and there will be Stevenage news in the Herts Mercury.”