The Lichfield Mercury is ‘coming home’ with the move of its counter services to a new city centre office.

From today a new reception will be open at Mercury House, Breadmarket Street, to replace the old facility at Graphic House in Bird Street, which has been the Mercury’s home for the past 29 years.

As before, the reception will be open for advertising and general inquiries, Reader Travel brochures and newspaper sales, and it will also provide a base for reporters, photographers and sales staff for their meetings in the city.

The move sees the paper closer than ever to ‘coming home’, as the first Lichfield Mercury and Midland Chronicle was published at offices just around the corner from the new premises in 1815.

Editor Tim Hewitt said: “When I joined the Mercury nearly 14 years ago, we didn’t even have a fax machine at Graphic House.

“Nowadays, we bandy faxes, e-mails and digital ISDN landline transmissions around as second nature and can barely imagine being without these tools.

“With all these changes, we have had, like any prudent business, to review our operations and ensure we are providing the most effective and viable service to our readers and customers.

“Moving our counter services to a better location in Lichfield is part of that process.”