Regional publisher Northcliffe Media has closed another of the seven weekly newspapers in Kent that it attempted to offload to local rival the KM Group.
The closure of the Thanet Times after 116 years of publication was announced in this week’s edition and carried on its website thisiskent today.
The title was one of seven which Northcliffe attempted to sell to the KM Group last year, only for the deal to fall through when the Office of Fair Trading referred it to the Competition Commission.
Two of the other six titles involved – the East Kent Gazette and the Medway News – have already closed.
The Thanet Times was 91pc free and according to the most recent ABC figures had an average weekly distribution of 33,509.
Paid-for sister title the Isle of Thanet Gazette, which has a circulation of 9,867, will continue to be published.
Richard Karn, managing director of Northcliffe South East, said: “We have reviewed our publishing portfolio in Thanet and have concluded that the time is right to move to a single newspaper – the Isle of Thanet Gazette and our website ThisisKent.
“This move will allow us to focus our resource on one market leading title rather than trying to maintain two titles which provided advertisers with a significant overlap in audience reach.
“The improvements to the Gazette as a result of this new approach start this Friday with a brand new homes section which has been developed in conjunction with local estate agents.
“The combined editorial team and editor which produced the Thanet Times will not be reduced as a result of this change, however Northcliffe Media are currently consulting on changes to editorial structure in the south east which may result in job losses overall.”
The thisiskent story on the paper’s closure acknowledges its taste for “unusual angles” and “weird and wacky” tales.
“As a truly red-top newspaper, the Thanet Times was often controversial and gloried in the affectionate nickname the Thanet Crimes,” it said.
“Love us or hate us, with pun-tastic headlines and sometimes unbelievable tales to tell, we were never, ever dull.
“The Thanet Times has led the way in bringing scores of stories to the world – articles that started on the pages of Thanet Times have made their way around the globe.
“Our tales were picked up by everyone from the national newspapers in Fleet Street to worldwide television networks who couldn’t get enough of the weird and wacky slice of life that we specialised in.
“Our reporters have gone on to work on some of the country’s leading newspapers, trained in the art of honing a great story and with an eye for the unusual angle.
“We will continue to bring you all the news that matters with our sister newspaper The Isle of Thanet Gazette every Friday and online at thisiskent.co.uk.
“But it is farewell to this very special part of Thanet life.”
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Don’t believe everything you read on here or on the paper’s front page: dig into the paper and you’ll discover it started in 1896, but didn’t publish from 1918-1958
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Hmm, a very interesting and massively relevant point you raise there, Streatham2.
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It’s a sad day – I and a number of other juniors all cut our teeth working on the Isle of Thanet Gazette and Thanet Times in the 1970s. I always enjoyed writing for the Times which had a slightly less formal approach to the news than its stablemate.
I can’t say I’m surprised to see it go as the circulation figures when it was a paid for were always smaller than the Gazette.
It’s a sign of the Times (pardon the pun) – the rest of the group will follow in due course, no doubt.
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It is a sad day for the TT. It was the first paper I worked on in the 1970s, just as it was changing from broadsheet to tabloid. Not always happy times there but sorry to see it go. Rumours of its demise had been circulating for some time – now it’s true.
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The TT under Mike Pearce was a great place for juniors to learn their trade. It specialised in offbeat stories. Not only did it have page three girls but it even had ‘mature’ page three girls for a while. I remember being passed some Polaroids and ogling the stretch marks on a middle- aged woman in her knickers. Life was never dull.
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Well the Competition Commission certainly worked well, instead of letting one company having all the titles, just kill off half of them same result no competition
Sad to see yet another local paper die
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