The Whitby Gazette has teamed up with local brewery Black Dog to launch a beer to mark the paper's 150th anniversary.

The 5.2 per cent bitter Whitby Gazette Special Edition is available at selected pubs in the Whitby area - and in bottles.

The beer is on sale to co-incide with the paper's 150th anniversary.

Whitby Gazette editor Damian Holmes said: "One of our team came up with the idea of a special beer for the anniversary, so we approached John Hartas at Black Dog Brewery.

"He was looking to re-launch his brand, so the timing was excellent for him, and it's a great way of marking our anniversary. It's already proving very popular with the bottles selling very quickly."

It is described as a beer with the flavour of traditional bitter... and 'not for the faint-hearted'.

The paper further celebrated its anniversary with a reprint of the first copy.

A special 16 page broadsheet supplement, containing birthday greetings from the Queen and PM Tony Blair - among others - was also published.

The supplement looked back at 150 years of news in the Whitby area, and with the help of local museum the Archives, contained stories and images from every decade.

The front page was designed by photographer Doug Jackson and reporters raided the archives to re-write historical stories with a contemporary slant.

Celebrations of the Gazette's 150th anniversary are to continue with a dinner dance at the Whitby Pavilion on July 24.

The guest speaker will be Channel 4 newsreader Alex Thomson and among those attending will be the Bishop of Whitby, the local MP Lawrie Quinn, and former Johnston Press chairman Freddy Johnston.

Current staff from the paper will also be joined by three previous editors, Les Heath, Phil Pledger and Ed Asquith, who is now editorial director of the Gazette's parent company, Yorkshire Regional Newspapers. More than 200 people, including many contacts and customers, are set to sit down for the dinner.

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