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Final editions of Kent weekly newspapers hit the presses

The last editions of the Bromley Extra and Bexley Extra were published today.

Around 30 staff at the free weeklies, owned by the Kent Messenger Group, have been undergoing a 30-day consultation with management.

Nine editorial staff produce the two loss-making papers from their office in Foots Cray and they are supported by a further two sub-editors, two photographers and a sports writer in other offices.

At the start of the consultation, the company was looking to absorb nearly all staff in other positions elsewhere with the KM Group.

Managing director Chris Bisco said that the actual losses would be two sub-editors if every member of staff decided to move to another job as there were sufficient vacancies within the group.

The two titles were launched in 2004 and form part of the 17 group-wide Extra titles. They have a combined audited distribution of around 167,000.

At the recent Kent Journalist of the Year Awards the Bromley and Bexley Extra was named news service of the year.

Journalists Danny Boyle and Dominique Taylor were the winner of and highly commended in the young journalist of the year category.

Both managing director Chris Bisco and editorial director Simon Irwin were unavailable for comment.