A regional daily launched its new Sunday edition at the weekend as it moved to a seven-day operation.

The first edition of the Liverpool Echo’s Sunday edition hit the streets with a special investigation into cannabis farms on Merseyside.

Trinity Mirror announced earlier this month that it was launching the new Sunday Echo on 19 January and said that journalists whose roles disappeared with the closure of the Liverpool Post would be redeployed as part of the seven-day Echo.

Editor Ali Machray said readers had welcomed the new edition, with many tweeting their congratulations.

He said: “The launch of the new Sunday Echo was a proud day. Now we can deliver the news that matters to the people of Liverpool and Merseyside seven days a week, and coverage of our football teams that cannot be matched by any of our competitors.

“It was nice to see so many readers tweeting us congratulations today – we even took some calls at the Echo office on Old Hall Street from people telling us how much they were enjoying the new edition.

“We continue to evolve, in print and online, because our readers make us a part of their lives, as we have been for 135 years.”

Steve Anderson-Dixon, Trinity Mirror’s regional managing director, added: “It’s looking like the first week’s sales of the Sunday Echo will be greater than we had expected which is a huge endorsement. I think that this is remarkable given that we had less than 10 working days from announcement to launch.

“The reaction from readers has been overwhelmingly positive and our advertising revenues for launch and across the first four weeks have also surpassed our expectations.”

Trinity Mirror already publishes a number of regional Sunday titles, including the Sunday Sun in Newcastle, the Sunday Mercury in Birmingham and Wales on Sunday.

When the new edition was announced, the publisher said no new jobs would be created as a result of the new launch but none had been lost as a result of the Post closure, with most redeployed at the seven-day Echo.

The only exception was the Post’s former editor Mark Thomas, who was appointed to lead the North Wales Daily Post, in succession to Alison Gow who has moved to a digital role with the company.