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Regional press news - this story published 24 April 2008

Eight Trinity Mirror newspapers to close in the Midlands

by holdthefrontpage staff

Trinity Mirror has announced plans to close eight loss-making newspapers in the Midlands.

The titles, based in Derby and Peterborough, will go following a review of Trinity Mirror Midlands operations in the two areas.

Six journalists are affected - out of a total of 23 staff who are facing redundancy.

The titles to close are the weekly Derby Trader, Ilkeston Trader, Ripley Trader, Peterborough Herald and Post and Stamford Herald and Post as well as fortnightly titles The Whittlesey Standard, Deepings Standard and Belper Bugle.

Editorial, advertising and distribution staff are undergoing a consultation process with the company over redundancy.

A company statement said: "The decision to close the loss-making titles and withdraw from these markets will allow Trinity Mirror Midlands to refocus attention on the remaining portfolio of weekly newspapers.

"There are no plans to close any other publications."

Steve Brown, regional managing director of Trinity Mirror Midlands, said: "It is a very sad day when newspaper titles close and we looked hard at alternative measures to try and prevent this decision.

"However, the remaining titles in the Trinity Mirror Midlands marketplace remain strong and the management team is focused on continuing to grow audiences and products across the rest of the region."

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nick hudson (24/04/2008 22:53)
Derby Trader founding father Lionel Pickering must be turning in his grave on hearing this piece of news. The man who started the free Derby Trader in 1966 by delivering it himself, along with his mum and dad, sold out to Thomson in 1989 for £27m but with each subsequent change of ownership, this highly successful newspaper group was ruined by larger publishers thinking they had to change a format - just because it was created by a maverick journalist. How wrong their actions proved as the group of 10 newspapers stretching across Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Staffordshire and Warwickshire never achieved the same level of commercial or editorial success again in the next 19 years. Nick Hudson, launch editor of the Nottingham Trader, launch general manager of the Nuneaton & Bedworth Trader, former editor of the Burton Trader, former editor of the Tamworth Trader and at the takeover in 1989 Trader group editor.

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Leigh Mencarini (25/04/2008 08:40)
What terrible news. The Peterborough titles gave many, including myself, the chance to cut their teeth in the world of journalism. Sadly, the papers were run into the ground from a lack of investment. It's more surprising how they survived as long as they did, considering what little newsroom they had left. Shame on you, Trinity Mirror.

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Doug Price (25/04/2008 10:04)
Just to reitterate my ex colleagues, Nick Hudsons comments, Lionel Pickering is not just turning he is positivley spinning. The Derby Trader was launched in 1966 and was one of the first free newspapers to be launched in the UK. The Group grew to 10 titles with over a Million distribution and was courted and subsequently sold to Thomsons for £27million. Presumably Thomson's did their home work before the buy out and paid good money for fuure profit. The Derby Trader was a market leader and still has a strong brand in the City, to just shut it down is totally unbelievable. Prior to the announcement of the Traders closure the Derby market place supported three titles the remaining two seem to be doing quite well, so you have to ask your self the question why couldn't Trinity make the Derby Trader pay. This is a black day for Regional press and is final proof that the inmates are running the asylum. There will be many Trader readers mourning the fact that the Trader will no longer be delivered to their homes and Trinity should do us all a favour and do what Thomsons did many years ago, move on to digital pastures new and let the real Regional Press Publishers get on with the job

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Louise (25/04/2008 11:14)
Eight titles and 'six journalists are affected - out of a total of 23 staff who are facing redundancy.' Enough said!

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ellie hunt (25/04/2008 13:05)
small local papers serving markets they know well will always fare badly under big companies. They get changes imposed on them to follow some company format and lose readers. By the time the bosses realise that people on the ground know what they are talking about what they have done it's all over. "Local" is just lip service from the big firms.

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Niall Campbell (25/04/2008 14:45)
I'm just so glad that I don't work for Trinity Mirror any longer. Ms Bailey has a lot to answer for with her cuts, cuts and more cuts of editorial budgets. My sympathy is with all the soon-to-be unemployed journalists who are paying the the ultimate price for propping up the share price of a (f)ailing company. But unfortunately, it isn't just them, it could be any of the large publishers, Newsquest, Johnstons et al. Sadly, we work in an industry where the owners all seem to work on the premise that the lowest common denominator is good for their readers, hence closing titles and lessening the quality of copy by using trainees to rewrite press releases instead of going out and reporting the real news.

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Dave Colville (25/04/2008 15:34)
Well said Niall. This fscination for 'get it on the web' is all going to end in tears; it doesn't take an expert to work that one out.

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Macca (25/04/2008 18:24)
And why not just sell the things you don't want instead of just chucking them away? Well, they wouldn't want someone with a bit of business acumen to come along and turn them back into rip-roaring successes again, would they?

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Anonymous to protect mky future (28/04/2008 16:56)
The thing that surpirses me with the whole Trinity Mirror situation is that despite all the cuts Ms Bailey and her cohorts decided to keep on The People, a loss making paper whose readership has been falling massively for years.

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Andy Holmes (02/05/2008 20:32)
What a sad day, these long standing titles will be sadly missed in Derbyshire. I printed the trader at the Heanor factory, for many years, under Lionel, then Thomson's, then Midland Independent Newspapers, until the pressroom finally shut down in 1993 and they moved production elsewhere. They were good days at the Trader and I miss them to this day, the end of an era !.

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