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Newspaper relaunches with new design, extra staff – and cover price rise

A weekly newspaper has relaunched with two additional reporters, a new look and a 20p increase in cover price.

The Bath Chronicle has become the latest Local World title to undergo a relaunch in the past week along with the Derby Telegraph and Hertfordshire Mercury.

As part of the relaunch, the Chronicle has invested in two additional reporters, a creative editor and a dedicated editor for its weekend magazine.

It has also increased its cover price by 20pc with each edition now costing £1.20.

Chronicle editor Lynne Fernquest told readers: “We are all so proud of the new paper. I can’t tell you how many hours have gone into both the design and content of the paper.

“At a cost of £1.20, there are few things you could buy for the same price which have had an equal amount of love, care and attention to detail lavished on them.

“The same amount of money might buy you around half a cup of Starbucks coffee or one-third of a pint of beer. For £1.20 you could park in the city for about 40 minutes.

“We don’t take you for granted, though, and that’s why we’re driven to ensure that you, our readers, get more for your money – and loyalty – by adding a raft of improvements and new content.

“This week we bring you no fewer than 250 pages of top-quality reading material, packed with Bath news, sport, entertainment, property , jobs, opinions and a sumptuous Weekend magazine.

“You will no doubt spot some of the changes yourselves – there are enhancements from front to back.”

The Chronicle was a struggling daily title until it was taken weekly by former editor Sam Holliday in 2007, boosting its sales from under 13,000-a-day to more than 20,000-a-week.

Its circulation according to the most recently-published set of ABCs now stands at 14,404.

21 comments

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  • September 26, 2014 at 8:02 am
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    Am I missing something: boosting sales to more than 20,000 a week. How much of a boost is that when they had just under 13,000 a day previously, presumably around 65,000 a week.

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  • September 26, 2014 at 8:36 am
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    Déjà poo! I have seen this s**t before.

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  • September 26, 2014 at 8:52 am
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    At least it looks like Local World are trying to take things in the right direction. This sort of thing is what we’ve wanted our bosses at Trinity Mirror to do for years.

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  • September 26, 2014 at 9:42 am
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    It’s a sad state of affairs when it is announced a paper is relaunched and ‘new staff’ has to be added to the headline!!!

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  • September 26, 2014 at 9:57 am
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    Looks fab. Why oh why weren’t people with talent and experience like Lynne brought in by Local World to assist with the launch of the Western Morning News on Sunday? Genie out of the bottle now….

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  • September 26, 2014 at 12:11 pm
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    Attract new better staff…and raise reporters’ morale? Way back in the 1960s or 70s the Windsor, Slough and Eton Express had a Press Gazette ad for a sub which read: “Sub wanted to punch life into dull copy.” The editor left soon aftwrwards…

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  • September 26, 2014 at 12:34 pm
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    JP Cost Cut Victim, yes you are missing something (and not just a question mark). It’s about advertising response from the de-duplicated readers of single edition. That’s why, commercially, 20,000 purchasers a week can beat 13,000 a day.

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  • September 26, 2014 at 12:36 pm
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    Good to hear that investment is happening but do I really want 250 pages?
    Why not focus on 100 pages of really top stuff – ideally not littered with house ads and self promos which my local weekly now is.
    And come on Bath you can do better than compare the cover price to the price of beer – that was a marketing message from the 70’s.
    People will buy local papers if it’s easy to do so and the content is very good.

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  • September 26, 2014 at 12:37 pm
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    West Briton to get the LW “treatment” next please?

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  • September 26, 2014 at 2:16 pm
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    I like that a lot.
    Not sure if Bodoni is right for a masthead when used across different treatments – the thin crossbars and legs may disappear as they are starting to on the minature page we’re seeing now.
    But it’s a striking, strong and attractive front page and no User Generated Pictures in sight.
    £1.20 for a 250 page package is comparable with a quality Sunday too.
    Bravo.

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  • September 26, 2014 at 2:59 pm
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    When was the last time we heard of a paper getting extra staff?
    Hope they live locally. Improves quality.

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  • September 26, 2014 at 4:30 pm
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    Yes, JP Cost Cut Victim, you are missing something, not least a grasp of the basic economic differences between a daily and weekly newspaper. It’s not all about sales, you know.

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  • September 26, 2014 at 7:18 pm
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    Thanks for the explanations. I’m afraid my basic English wasn’t up to scratch this morning, so ‘economic differences’ never stood a chance! The paper looks good: crisp, clean design that I hope it maintains.

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  • September 26, 2014 at 8:03 pm
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    Ill informed. Not all about sales? Tell that to the advertisers. If some knew the true figures they would shiver!

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  • September 27, 2014 at 7:42 am
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    It looks more like a leaflet dropping through my front door than a newspaper…and I won’t pay for leaflets.

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  • September 27, 2014 at 7:55 am
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    ipaddy – I thought exactly that. Are sales teams told why, commercially, 20,000 purchasers a week can beat 13,000 a day? The advertisers, presumably, are more commercially aware than I am, otherwise it must be a pretty hard sell.

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  • September 28, 2014 at 5:44 pm
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    What a waste of money. Sian David has been ‘playing’ about for weeks on this new design.. and they have the cheek to charge more money for it.

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  • September 28, 2014 at 9:42 pm
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    If they’re prioritising quality photography it’ll do well

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  • September 28, 2014 at 11:53 pm
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    ipaddy, how many advertisers take space 6 days a week in local dailies? Very few – the vast majority advertise once a week. So what would they prefer, a 13k daily or a 20k weekly?

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  • September 29, 2014 at 11:14 am
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    I think the new look paper is great. The aforementioned Sian David seems to have done a great job. It looks really current and fresh.

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  • September 30, 2014 at 9:48 am
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    Ironic that there’s a Welsh person giving compliments to Ms David, when she’s Welsh.
    If the redesign made a difference fair enough, but it doesn’t. As the Bath hack said They’re charging the reader extra for ‘playing’ about with the paper. Shocking!

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