Regional publisher Local World has confirmed it is scrapping a weekly edition of the Leicester Mercury launched last October in the town of Loughborough.
The Loughborough Mercury hit the streets seven months ago with an initial print run of 7,000.
However the spin-off title has now closed and two freelances who were recruited to provide content for the paper on monthly rolling contracts have lost their jobs.
The news emerged on the day it was announced that another recently-launched Local World title, Bedford Midweek, would also be closing.
Leicester Mercury publisher David Simms said in a statement: “We have decided to close The Loughborough Mercury following a publishing review of the Leicester Mercury Media Group portfolio.
“The final edition of the newspaper was published on 12 June 2013. Former readers are still able to get news and information in the Leicester Mercury every weekday and online at LeicesterMercury.co.uk.”
The paper had the same 45p cover price as its daily stablemate and was competing for readers against the Trinity Mirror-owned Loughborough Echo, which has a weekly circulation of 15,615.
At the time, the then owner Northcliffe Media – now part of Local World – said it has been produced “to meet a clear demand in the area for grassroots news” while Mercury editor Richard Bettsworth called it “a positive statement about the future of print.”
The launch edition of the Loughbrough Mercury last October
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I remember when the Leics Mercury was undergoing the big revamp about 10 years. It was the big thing in Northcliffe. American designers, money going everywhere, the best and brightest designers from around the group being taken out to help with the grand plan. Now look at things. What a disastrous decade it has been
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When will everybody realise that it is: content, content, content. A good design is only the icing on the cake at the very most.
Readers don’t buy newspapers because they are well designed, They buy on th expectation that the content is relevant to their lives. They are very unlikely to want to frame them and hang them on the wall.
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I think the front page of the 1st edition says it all.
The lead ‘headline’ is about a conference at the local uni on a band that were big 50 years ago. Is that really going to attract townsfolk to part with their hard earned money? Whats a bet that on page three theres a story about a cat stuck up a tree.
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