Trinity Mirror’s Chronicle Series in mid-Cheshire is undergoing a revamp which will see two of its three editions switch from paid-for to free.

The Northwich and Winsford editions will be delivered free to 33,000 homes every week from next Wednesday.

Meanwhile the third edition of the mid-Cheshire series, for Middlewich, will be merged with the Sandbach edition of sister paper the Crewe Chronicle, which will continue as a paid-for.

Trinity Mirror Cheshire editor-in-chief Eric Langton said the move was a commercial decision to ensure the paper reached as wide an audience as possible, which had been backed up by research.

This had also shown that the Middlewich edition was a better fit with the south Cheshire titles.

He said: “All newspaper groups are looking at how best to get their titles into the hands of readers and we are no different than the Evening Standard or the Manchester Evening News.

“To all intents and purposes it will be a paid-for paper that we give away.

“By the end of the next month we also hope to launch a new companion website which will play just as a big a part in the operation, with breaking news.”

As part of the change the Northwich and Winsford editions will have a new design with an increased story count and “shorter and snappier” articles.

They will follow the model of the Midweek Chronicle, which Eric said had been hugely successful in Chester.

The group’s existing free title for Northwich, the Northwich Mail, which launched five years ago, will no longer be published.