A newspaper office that has been based in a Wiltshire town for the past century is set to close.
The Marlborough office of the Wiltshire Gazette and Herald will be closed by parent company Newsquest and the only reporter that was based there is to work from home and hold surgeries in the town.
Nigel Kerton, who is due to retire in a year’s time, has worked from the office for the past 44 years.
In a report in the Gazette and Herald this week, Nigel said: “Of course I am sad to be leaving it after all these years but with modern technology I can work from anywhere.
“All good things come to an end and while this is the end of the road for a permanent office in the town, the Gazette will still continue to provide the best traditional news service with the emphasis on community news and stories about what local people get up to.”
Now the office is to be sold and Nigel will hold surgeries in some tea rooms in the town for members of the public who want to speak to a reporter for Marlborough.
Readers can also leave their letters at an estate agent on the same road as the office was based.
It will be the first time the town has been without a newspaper office for more than 200 years.
In June we reported on a reshuffle at the group of Wiltshire titles which also includes the Wiltshire Times and Swindon Advertiser.
The move meant that the Times and the Gazette and Herald are both now managed and run from the Times’ office in Trowbridge.
Group editor of the titles, Gary Lawrence, had not responded to requests for a comment at the time of publication.
Over the past year HTFP has reported on a number of newspaper office closures and proposed closures, including:
- Stroud News and Journal’s Stroud, Cirencester and Dursley offices
- Belper News, Eastwood and Kimberley Advertiser and Eckington Leader
- Midlothian Advertiser’s Dalkeith office
- Epworth Bells and Crowle Advertiser
- Morley Observer and Advertiser
- Lancaster Guardian
- Herts Advertiser’s St Albans office
- The Bethnal Green office of Archant London’s Recorder series
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Surgeries in the town. Dr Kerton, I presume?
I foresee circulation problems.
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And they wonder why some locals are dying – another victory for the US bean counters…!
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I worked with Nigel Kerton in the Marlborough office in the early 1980s. Great place and great fun. In those days it was a two reporter office with a tiny newsroom upstairs and an office manager downstairs handling ads and newspaper sales, who also had an assistant. I believe the building is one of the oldest in Marlborough.
The Evening Advertiser and Wilts Gazette and Herald were then owned by Westminster Press, chaired by the Duke of Atholl. He used to do “tours” of the group’s titles and came to see us. Not many newspaper company chairmen call in on their district reporters today, I suspect – but then not many have district reporters to call on.
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Another nail in the coffin of the traditional town centre, this, never mind the newspaper. More than enough has been said over NQ’s scandalous and idiotic behaviour over the years. But Marlborough has recently fallen victim to an out-of-town Tesco, and they are known to be into getting into hairdressing, the law, and car maintenance…they could start local newspapers too, couldn’t they?
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Regardless of NQ’s questionable handling of weekly newspapers the sad but true fact is that nearly all weekly newspaper sales are in decline.
That won’t change because the current generations are not, by-in-large, interested in local newspapers so engaging them requires different media platforms and different ways of being in contact to preserve the brand.
As someone who has been in weekly papers since the late 1960s (when we went to weddings on Saturday duty to get all the details!) adapting to the ever-changing market has always been the battle.
In the face of decline trying new things is better than sitting under the guillotine. The question here, of course, is what will NQ do when Nigel retires …
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@GladimOutOfit
If they did I’d be in there like a shot. My lad gets not much less than my monthly salary simply for stacking shelves. As a Newsquest employee I earn less than our county average wage – and we’re an agricultural county!
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Tesco Express?
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