There are times as a would-be media pundit when you don’t quite know where to turn for fear of kicking up bad news.

And newspaper closures have provided plenty of noise during the final few weeks of 2011.

So it was with some delight that I stumbled across the Gazette & Herald in the bar of The Bear in Devizes, Wiltshire, last week.

Now you could be cynical and say that it was the roaring fire, the Waddingtons IPA, the beer-battered fish and homemade chips that warmed my heart.

But I would contend that it was the thickness, the story count, the basic but decent lay-out, the content quality and the local focus of the Devizes edition of this weekly that had me kicking off my shoes with pleasure.

So much so that when a fellow imbiber asked – as beer drinkers do – “have you finished with that paper, mate?”, I was polite but quite pointed in saying: “Not really – you can have a quick look but I’d like it back after, please.”

The splash alone on Thursday 15 December captivated me, ‘I didn’t see him’ being the tempting talky headline, with the strap sub-heading ‘Teacher has not driven since fatal crash which killed dad-of-two’.

This was such a well-crafted piece of court writing from experienced local hack Jill Crooks, squeezing out every fact that is always there for the taking in courtrooms but is too often missed by reporters overly beguiled by Twitter.

The defendant’s name (Eleanor Brown), her age (27), address (was Devizes, but now back with her parents in Marlborough), detailed job role (Latin and classics, St John’s School, Marlborough – where she was once a pupil) were all there as part of the prose.

The victim (Lee Roberts), his age (35), address (Pewsey), children’s names and ages, wife’s and mother’s names, the vehicles involved (Skoda hits moped), the time and date of death (7.30am, 21 October 2010), the road (C8 from Devizes to Pewsey) and the left-hand bend where it happened (near to All Cannings turning).

The prosecuting counsel (Mark Ruffell), the defence barrister (Michael Duck), the court (Salisbury Crown), the charge (death by dangerous driving), evidence from a passenger (Brown’s colleague Sarah Long), the character witnesses for Brown (St John’s head teacher Dr Patrick Hazelwood and head of department Sarah Bumphrey) and even the driver of the van Brown was trying to overtake (Duncan McGillivray).

So much detail, so many names and local entry points were packed into 19 pars on page one that even the fact that the trial was proceeding when the Gazette & Herald went to press took nothing away from the dramatic read.

And if, like me, you were hooked, then the Gazette & Herald’s website broke the ‘exclusive’ on Friday 16 December: ‘Jury convicts Marlborough woman’, with ten straight pars and the lovely footnote: ‘See the Gazette & Herald on December 22 for full report’.

A touch of class, that boost, with the ‘exclusive’ hint that no-one else was there acting as a stark reminder of the importance of the local press. Nice one editor Gary Lawrence and team.

I’ve wittered on about a single story, but the Gazette & Herald was no ‘one hit wonder’, with just a sample of other content I rated either for its hard news and/or local detail including:

• ‘Demolition to go ahead’ leading page two, reporting how a judge had refused a local man’s appeal to save his 150-year-old cottage.

• ‘Bedside vigil for teenager’ leading page three, reporting how a local 13-year-old was flown to intensive care at a Bristol hospital after she was hit by a car when getting off a school bus.

• ‘Teen’s brush with the law’ leading page 25, telling how an ‘approved’ shop wall graffiti artist was handcuffed by police using sniffer dogs after a nosy neighbour mistakenly dialled 999.

• ‘School corrects itself to get pass’ leading page 27, exactly what it said on the tin – an Ofsted turnaround within 12 months by committed teachers.

• Plus more than 300 recognisable children’s faces in 30 nativity pictures from local schools on pages 38 to 41.

Even the size and style of the briefs impressed me, this page three example typical of flights of nibs on almost every news page: ‘Devizes – Metal detectorist Dave Crisp is in line for a windfall after his discovery of 11 Roman silver coins in March was declared treasure by the East Somerset coroner.’

In a 112-page paper, there were 250+ reports on 45 news and features pages, with more on the 24-page Christmas TV pullout, and another 80+ reports on 10 sports pages.

With a cover price of 70p, the Newsquest-owned Gazette & Herald sold an average of 21,928 copies a week according to the latest ABCs.

And very happy customers they should be too. Merry Christmas!

• Watch out: Dyson at Large could be reporting on a paper left in a pub near you for his next blog on 4 January 2012.