A newspaper set up in the wake of the closure of another title in the same town has decided on a name change – before its first edition has been published.

The Wokingham Paper, which began life as the Wokingham Independent, has also announced it will go to print for the first time on 27 March.

The Wokingham Times was closed in December as part of cutbacks by Trinity Mirror, leaving the Berkshire Media Group’s Wokingham News as the only remaining newspaper in the town.

The Paper has been set up by Phil Creighton, a former features editor at the Times, pictured above left.

Explaining the name change, he told HTFP that while The Independent was simply a “working title,” The Wokingham paper was a “Ronseal title – it does exactly what it says on the tin.”

The Paper will be produced weekly by an independent company, Xn Media, which already produces a glossy monthly magazine for the area called Xn, currently edited by Phil.

A team of six – including journalists, a photographer and a sub-editor – are working on the first issue, but Phil hopes to have a staff of around 20 in place once the newspaper is up-and-running.

A crowdfunding campaign has been launched with the aim of raising £15,000 to get the project off the ground, of which just over £5,000 has been raised since 9 February.

The first edition of the paper, to be published on 27 March, will be a trial monthly edition, with a second edition to be published on 24 April.

After this, its founders hope it will go weekly.

Phil added: “We’re going to take the best of the Wokingham Times but fill it with some great news that makes us a must-read paper.

“I joke that I want my journalists to be wearing out their shoe leather and not their phone battery.  We’re trying to be sensible and launch with the bare minimum but we’re looking to have a total in the office of around 20.”