Great stories and dogged journalism have resulted in The Argus, Brighton, notching up impressive sales in the past two weeks.

The manslaughter conviction of notorious Sussex property tycoon Nicholas Hoogstraten boosted that evening's overall sale to 816 copies above last year.

But the real benefit of the paper's hard work was borne out the following day when The Argus produced a 12-page backgrounder on Hoogstraten and the case, including a dramatic poster front with the headline "Goodbye and… good riddance."

As a result, the day's sale was 7,504 copies up on the previous year and 5,090 on the previous week.

This followed the previous week when, in the aftermath of DJ Fatboy Slim's huge party on Brighton beach, the paper enjoyed a 42.82 per cent increase on the previous week and a 36.5 increase on the previous year.

Editor Simon Bradshaw said: "Our papers in the past two weeks have been nothing but superb and the sales reflect that.

"They are a credit to the whole team here, especially reporter Steve Rogers, who covered the whole of the Hoogstraten trial.

"I am thrilled that we have started off the second half of the ABC year so well and hope we can keep it going."

Do you have a story about the regional press? Ring 0116 227 3122/3121, or
e-mail pastill@nep.co.uk