AddThis SmartLayers

Weekly’s makeover mirrors county town’s resurgence

A regional newspaper is enjoying a major makeover – reflecting the resurgence of one of the UK’s most influential county towns.

The Lancaster Guardian has undergone a content and design revamp, mirroring the business and commercial uplift to Lancashire’s ancient administrative base.

The weekly has introduced three new sections – an enlarged Business Guardian, an entertainments’ facelift in the shape of The Guide and twice the number of columnists in Guardian Opinions.

The new-look to the Johnston Press title comes in the wake of research by the company to engage the readers in what they’d like to see in the paper.

“Our revamp comes as we see Lancaster enjoying a real development spurt,” said the paper’s chief reporter Nick Lakin.

“You’d definitely say the county town is enjoying a resurgence,” he added.

Nick is looking after the paper’s bigger business coverage, going from two to five pages a week.

The paper’s chief reporter was the first ‘subject’ of a new Q & A article called Seven Questions in the business section which will focus on county commercial heads.

And Nick added that there is a real “feelgood” story to tell as Lancaster increases its retail and industrial footprint plus the continuing construction of a four-mile-long M6 link road to Heysham port, effectively creating a by-pass for the centre.

The new Opinions section has seen the eight regular columnists increased to 15.

In the makeover to entertainments, The Guide will be a focal point for another change to Lancaster’s heartland.

The 1,000-year-old castle, which switched to being a prison, has now been redeveloped as an open tourist attraction in its former guise.

Earlier this year the Lancaster Guardian, along with its sister title The Morecambe Visitor, moved from Morecambe town centre to a new home White Lund industrial estate.

One comment

You can follow all replies to this entry through the comments feed.