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Daily-turned-weekly to move offices next year

A daily-turned-weekly which put its offices up for sale in June has confirmed that staff will be moving to a new base in a business park early next year.

The Scarborough News, which originally put its town centre premises at Aberdeen Walk up for sale in the summer, has now sold the building and will move to a new location on Scarborough Business Park, around four miles away.

It is expected that staff will relocate to Newchase Court, off Hopper Hill Road, in February or March of 2014.

The confirmed sale of the Johnston Press-owned newspaper building comes after HTFP revealed the regional publisher is looking to raise more than £8m from selling off current and former newspaper offices and former print works.

The editorial staff of the Scarborough News was reduced by around six in May 2012 when it switched from daily to weekly publication.

A spokesman for Johnston Press said: “We know how important the Scarborough News is to our local community and are currently looking at a range of options to ensure the needs of our customers are still met.”

The current offices of the Scarborough News have now been sold. (Picture: Google Maps)

The News’ office was one of three current and former newspaper offices in North Yorkshire which were on the market as a result of the property sell-off.

Also up for sale were the town centre offices of the Bridlington Free Press and the Grade II-listed former harbourside offices of the Whitby Gazette.

16 comments

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  • November 25, 2013 at 9:14 am
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    Madness. Look at that beautiful building, right in the heart of the community. Life isn’t really local at all, is it Ashley?

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  • November 25, 2013 at 9:17 am
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    A move from an historic, well known building in the town centre, full of character, to a bland business park. The paper will lose more readers as they feel less of a connection to it and clearly JP no longer want to encourage readers into their premises. As with Leeds, what a great ‘shop window’ with which to advertise the papers, that will be missed, as the staff that remain are tucked away from view. Of course, from a workers point of view it will fit into AH’s charter for suitable office accommodation. It seems just as all JP titles are beginning to look the same, so are all its offices. Shame.

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  • November 25, 2013 at 9:57 am
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    To be frank, I’m not sure what having a historic office adds to producing a newspaper, but then I’m not a journalist – just a reader.

    I feel sure I won’t pick up the paper in six months time and think “not as much content in here today – must be because they are out at Eastfield, and not on Aberdeen Walk”.

    I daresay the paper losing readers won’t have anything at all with its location?

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  • November 25, 2013 at 10:03 am
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    Yet the sign on the building said “business not affected”

    Yeah, right…

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  • November 25, 2013 at 10:15 am
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    It would make a lovely Cash Converters, Bet Fred or Costa!

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  • November 25, 2013 at 10:17 am
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    “Mrs V Cross” readers coming into reception is (or was) a vital source of stories for local papers. Not everyone is literate or confident enough to write a lengthy email about their problems or make a phone call to a complete stranger. However, sit down face-to-face with a sympathetic reporter and all sorts of stuff comes out. If a paper is based on the outskirts of town rather than in the centre then, obviously, it is much more unlikely for this to happen.

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  • November 25, 2013 at 11:53 am
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    In truth what percentage of content (or even income nowadays) is generated by people visiting reception?
    In news terms it will be about 2/3 per cent, if that.
    It is far rarer than it used to be.
    I agree, it is always disappointing when newspapers lose town centre premises (and it can be a sales disaster if they leave a town completly) but to try and link it to falling sales and weaker editorial is guilding the lilly.

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  • November 25, 2013 at 12:02 pm
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    The issue is that the building looks nice on the outside but is falling to bits on the inside and the cost of getting up to scratch is too much. I believe it has been sold for peanuts due to this.
    There are areas that are off limit inside for the safety of employees.

    I also ear from my source that JP wanted to stay in the town centre but the cost of space was deemed “extortionate”, having been to Scarborough a few months ago there were so many empty offices and shops in the town centre I can imagine this is true.

    Also the “editorial staff of around six” is a massive over estimate

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  • November 25, 2013 at 12:18 pm
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    I take your point Mrs V Cross, not enough local news/photos, errors, lack of legible advertising, coupons that are impossible to fill in etc. will be the more likely cause of cancelled subscriptions and lost readers. However, the old building gave the paper a ‘face’ and a point of contact for those not embracing the rush to digital.

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  • November 25, 2013 at 12:29 pm
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    So how long before the Bridlington,Whitby and Scarborough papers are all under one banner….

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  • November 25, 2013 at 12:36 pm
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    Yet another folly by newspaper owners. Local newspaper in the heart of the town moves four miles out to soulless industrial estate. Just great for anyone wanting to go into the office with a story. Now that’s just what local journalism is about. Shame.

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  • November 25, 2013 at 12:54 pm
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    Many journalists have great memories of this historic frontage. Changing the location to four miles away in a business park speaks volumes of how today’s corporate publishers view their staff and readers.
    Newspapers cannot be made in a factory like a tin of beans or a motor car.
    Roll on the day when the Big Four corporate publishers finally expire and then, hopefully, journalism will somehow find its grass roots again.

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  • November 25, 2013 at 12:58 pm
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    Well written Kendo – if Mrs V is ‘just a reader’ strange why she is commenting on this site.
    I live in an area where the iconic newspaper offices closed a couple of years back but locals do worry what will become of such a landmark.

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  • November 25, 2013 at 2:04 pm
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    Dear sir how can you call in if you have a birth,death.or marriages. It takes a week now ,will it now be 2or3 weeks not all have cars .

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  • November 25, 2013 at 9:09 pm
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    Bridlington’s office is up for auction on December 5, at 60k below the asking price. No new premises have been arranged yet, apart from desks at Driffield Times and Post offices 13 miles away.

    Oh and by the way, htfp, Bridlington is in East Yorkshire, not North Yorkshire.

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  • November 29, 2013 at 6:29 am
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    Ashley’s masterplan is to close all the offices and have content gatherers working remotely. By this he means joe public sending crap in from home for free. Think of the savings, no offices, no staff, eventually online only so no print costs either……..100% profit. You know it makes sense 😉

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