Two weekly newspapers have moved to a new base on an industrial estate after their current offices were sold to a charity by Johnston Press.
The Morecambe Visitor and the Lancaster Guardian were based in Morecambe town centre but moved to new premises yesterday on White Lund Industrial Estate in the town.
Their former offices in Victoria Street have been up for sale for a number of years, with the latest asking price of £350,000, and have now been sold to the Galloway’s Society for the Blind, a charity based in the North West.
The Visitor has been based at the site for 135 years, while journalists from the Lancaster Guardian moved into the Morecambe building in 2011 when their own offices were closed.
The building is one of a number of current and former JP newspapers offices to be sold or put up for sale as the publisher seeks to raise cash and ensure its offices are “fit for purpose”.
But the company has not revealed how much the two-storey building in Morecambe has been sold for.
Group editor Nicola Adam said: “We are delighted to be moving to a new office.
“Staff will benefit from improved IT infrastructure and a modern working environment, while remaining on patch and in a great position to cover both Lancaster and Morecambe.”
The new office is around halfway between Lancaster and Morecambe, with modern facilities and parking for staff.
Also moving premises with the two newspapers were staff from JP’s Off Road stable of magazines titles, which includes Dirt Bike Rider and Trials & Motocross News.
The newspapers’ former building on Victoria Street will be used by the Galloway’s charity, which plans to make major improvements to the building to use it as a regional head office.
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Life is local…but not if we can help it!
It’s a long time since I worked in Morecambe but White Lund was a car breakers yard and home to “travellers”. Imagine the pride, leaving your home of 135 years to move to this Hinterland.
“it’s half way between Morecambe and Lancaster” two distinctly different markets that used to each have their own newspapers based in the centre of their towns.
JP might as well give up, default to the bank and get out of the way….maybe there’s an app for that?
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On the upside though the new office is close to the council tip. Handy for dumping all those unsold copies of the Visitor.
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Windswept, wild, White Lund…what a joke! I took my driving test there (passed second time). You’d have to be a master of the black arts to sell such a move.
As Carts says, JP should just get out of the way.
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Crikey, I missed the irony (apologies, that’s not like me) . Sold it to a charity for the blind. ’nuff said.
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I thought JP was of the opinion it didn’t need offices, let alone an IT infrastructure, to run a newspaper.
Or are they just making it up as they go along?
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