The cover price of a regional daily has been slashed by more than half as it relaunches with a new look.

The Paisley Daily Express has a new modern design, an increase in page count, more content based on user-generated stories and pictures and an extended entertainment section.

The relaunch on Monday saw its cover price cut from 45p to just 20p, as a temporary measure which will be reviewed on an ongoing basis, and two new football columnists have also been signed up – Chick Young, Scotland’s best-known St Mirren fan, and St Mirren legend Ricky Gillies.

It is the first of 17 titles to be redesigned as part of a roll-out of the ContentWatch editorial system across Media Scotland, the Scottish operation of Trinity Mirror.

The introduction of the new system has included a restructure at the titles, which was announced in June and saw production of the Paisley title merged with the Daily Record and Sunday Mail at Media Scotland’s Glasgow headquarters.

The restructure put seven production jobs, 12 copy inputters and two staff photographers at risk of redundancy – although Trinity Mirror has not confirmed how many jobs were lost.

Express editor John Hutcheson said: “This is a hugely exciting time for everyone connected with the newspaper.

“Our loyal readers will be delighted with the new look as well as our new columnists and new features. And, at just 20p, the paper will provide even greater value for money in these tough times.

“This is the start of a new era for our historic title and we can’t wait to hear the feedback.”

Under the introduction of the ContentWatch system, each newspaper retains its editors and reporters in the community it serves but titles across the group will share non-local sections such as TV, movies, music and motoring.
 
Allan Rennie, editor-in-chief of Media Scotland, said: “We’re delighted to relaunch our flagship local newspaper, the Paisley Daily Express, which demonstrates our continued commitment to local newspapers in Scotland.
 
“Our 20p promotion will help persuade the people of Paisley to take a fresh look at the newspaper and the revamped website will reflect the relaunch online.
 
“The new look across our weekly titles is the culmination of three months hard work by local editors and teams and underpinning this is our investment in technology that ensures all our local titles will have a healthy future.
 
“The introduction of ContentWatch gives us the ability to seamlessly publish great stories and pictures in any format, whether it is in print, web, smartphone app or e-paper.”