Tom Derbyshire is to take over as editor of The Wharf following the departure of Ann Stenhouse to the Sunday Mirror.

Tom, (31), will start his first editorship at the free weekly on April 11, moving from Trinity Mirror Southern’s Hounslow office where he has been chief sub-editor since October 2002.

Tom said: “I’ve been in for a few days to meet everyone and have a look around. It’s a very good paper – very lively and entertaining – with quite a small team who are very friendly and professional.

“I’ve had quite a lot of experience deputising for the editor at Hounslow dealing with a newsroom of around 30 people, so although it’s a lot smaller team at The Wharf there’ll be a lot of the same issues.

“The Wharf has to cover a mix of stories – from Canary Wharf to the Isle of Dogs – two different areas coming together.

“It’s a very strong paper and I want to keep that standard up. I want to do a lot of human interest pieces looking at people you see around the Wharf area and on the tube.

“With the Isle of Dogs we have to make sure that we cover that area with the right depth and keep the balance with business which is very important to us and our area.”

Tom began his career at Central Independent Newspapers as a junior reporter on the Tamworth Herald before working as a district reporter for the Sutton Coldfield Observer and as deputy chief reporter at the Walsall Advertiser.

He was then part of the team that launched the now-defunct Sunday Series which was backed by Aston Villa chairman Doug Ellis.

After a period of travelling, Tom moved to London where he has also worked at Trinity Mirror Southern’s North Surrey and London Newspaper Group as a news editor for one year and as a sub-editor for six months.

Tom said: “It’ll be nice to see a different area of London and I’ve had a good look round over the last couple of months. I actually went to university in London from 1992 to 1995 and it’s amazing to see how the area has changed since then.”

The Wharf is published every Thursday and has a circulation of 32,460.