Newspaper entrepreneur Sir Ray Tindle has praised staff for the successful launch of his new fortnightly paid-for the Chingford Times.

The veteran local press boss said last week’s launch “may prove the turning point” in the company’s struggle to beat what he called “this dreadful recession.”

In a letter to Chingford Times managing director Scott Wood he wrote: “Please convey my sincere thanks and those of the Tindle Board to everyone involved in this highly successful publication which may show us all the way to launch ourselves out of our losses.

“Tindle Newspapers is proud that we have so far survived three and a half years of the worst downturn in living memory without making a single journalist redundant.  By your efforts you may well have helped us maintain that record.”