Plans are being drawn up to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the founding of Britain's first free city daily newspaper.

The Daily News was set up by entrepreneur Chris Bullivant and first appeared in October, 1984.

The paper, later owned by Reed, was delivered to up to 340,000 homes in Birmingham and Solihull four mornings a week and is also credited with being Europe's first free daily.

It soon established a respected voice and earned a reputation which led it to win a number of awards. Many staff went on to greater things on national newspapers and in broadcasting or public relations.

The product was a prototype for similar papers in other cities. But a severe recession and a fierce advertising war led to its demise in 1991 when it became a weekly and changed its name to Metro News.

Three years ago a reunion of editorial staff was held in Birmingham to mark the 10th anniversary of the closure of the daily version - and colleagues are looking forward to holding a similar event. Details will be announced shortly.

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