The Suffolk-based Mercury Series has celebrated its first birthday since being relaunched with a £200,000 investment.

The Bury St Edmunds Mercury and the Sudbury Mercury, which were previously known as the West Suffolk Mercury, have gone from strength to strength since introducing their own editorial content a year ago.

The Archant-owned titles had previously been a round-up of ‘poached’ news from sister paper the East Anglian Daily Times, and the development of an independent editorial team has given the free weeklies strong identities in their communities.

The Mercury Series has a full-time editor, Paul Couch, who is based at Archant Suffolk’s head office in Ipswich, and two full-time photojournalists who are based in Bury St Edmunds and Sudbury respectively.

Paul said: “The Mercury relaunch has exceeded everyone’s expectations.

“In many ways, we’ve broken new ground in the area of free newspapers in that we’ve proven that we can provide a good, independent editorial platform from which to develop an enviable commercial base.

“The best news for us is that our readers have welcomed the changes with open arms.”

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