A newspaper circulation war is set to hit Birmingham later this spring with the planned launch of a new upmarket weekly.

Former Trinity Mirror weeklies boss Tony Lennox is teaming up with media entrepreneur Chris Bullivant to launch the Birmingham Press.

The duo believes the Birmingham Post’s move towards a niche business readership has left a gap in the market for a more broadly-based title.

The new paper will operate on a part-free, part paid-for model with a free distribution of 25,000 copies, and will contain what Tony describes as “everything you would expect from a traditional weekly paper.”

He told HTFP: “Everyone recognises that the media landscape has changed pretty dramatically with the big newspaper groups cutting costs as they have been doing.

“We do feel there is a gap in the market and we think it can sustain another print product.

“The Post has definitely created its own niche. It is definitely a business paper. We will be carrying a business platform, but it won’t be the main thing in the paper.

“We are going to be a very traditional paper, with everything you would expect to see in a local paper.”

Until last year, Tony was used to going head-to-head with Chris Bullivant-owned titles in the West Midlands in his role as Trinity’s group editorial director for its titles in the region.

Added Tony: “We’ve been deadly rivals over the years but when we were introduced I found he didn’t have horns and a tail. The only problem is that he’s a Birmingham City fan and I’m a Villa supporter.”

The Birmingham Press, which will be edited by Tony, is expected to be launched next month but no firm date has been decided.

Comments

Cliff (22/03/2010 14:00:00)
I’m confused. Traditional weekly newspapers aren’t upmarket so what is it? Upmarket or traditional? In a traditional weekly I expect community news, court lists and council stuff.