The Audit Bureau of Circulation has released its figures for the six months ending June 30, 2007.

The figures show year-on-year drops in circulation for almost all local newspapers, with the Reading Evening Post suffering with a drop of 21 per cent to 13,664 – a figure which the paper said was anticipated, largely due to removing bulk copies from sale and the introduction of a part-paid, part-free sales strategy five days per week.

The Liverpool Daily Post was down 10.6 per cent to 15,992. In addition, the paper distributes 6,406 free copies a day, bringing a combined figure of more than 22,000.

Other newspapers which saw a fall in sales included the Sheffield Star, down 9.4 per cent to 53,777, and the South Wales Echo, down 9.6 per cent to 50,422.

Better news shows several rises in circulation – beating the historical slump – with Newsquest titles the Swindon Advertiser up two per cent to 22,763 and the Oxford Mail up one per cent to 26,081. Newsquest’s Dorset Echo is level year-on-year to 19,603.

Trinity Mirror’s Birmingham Post up 1.5 per cent to 13,150. The Birmingham Mail is claiming a positive swing of 11 per cent, dropping 4.9 per cent year-on-year. It now sells 74,347. Its fall this time last year was 17.1 per cent.

The Guernsey Press rose to 16,178 with an increase of 0.9 per cent.

The Bath Chronicle, which has recently announced a move to go weekly, now sells 12,739, a fall of just 0.2 per cent.

The Argus, in Brighton, which has previously had a well-documented drop in circulation, fell just one per cent to 33,953.