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Publisher to close long-standing weekly newspaper office

A weekly newspaper is set to close its office after 40 years this autumn.

The Bridport and Lyme Regis News office in East Street, Bridport, is expected to close with staff at the Newsquest-owned title working elsewhere.

It is understood the Bridport title has been based at its current premises for around 40 years and the newspaper is thought to have had a presence in the town since it was founded in 1855.

The building has now been put up for rent for £9,500 per year and its property details say that it will be available in late 2015.

Bridport News office

Newsquest has declined to comment on the office closure or reveal where its staff will be based afterwards but it is thought they may work from home or from the Dorset Echo’s headquarters in Weymouth, 21 miles away.

It is understood that Newquest’s lease on the property expires at the end of October and the company has chosen not to renew it.

In July last year, the publisher merged the Bridport News and the Lyme Regis News, previously published as two separate editions, into a single larger newspaper and raised the cover price by 5p to 50p.

The property brochure describes the building as a “very attractive ground floor office/shop premises in a period Grade II Listed building.”

It adds the property has “excellent pedestrian flow” and nearby occupiers include national retailers and local independent businesses.

Former Bridport News editor Anthony Bonnici, who is now night online editor at The Times, tweeted last month: “Bridport News is selling its East Street office, no doubt as part of ‘exciting changes’ and likely to move to ‘bumper’ new premises.”

The property is being marketed by Humberts and can be viewed on Rightmove here.

12 comments

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  • September 17, 2015 at 8:02 am
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    Newsquest did the same to my little district office about three years ago after years and years of neglect. Imagine working on a computer from the 1990s and having to use a dialup to file copy in 2011? That was me.
    But some of my best front page stories walked in the door and it was great to actually be in the town when some of its most dramatic stories happened.
    Telling readers you’re going to be in such and such cafe or community centre between this time and that doesn’t really work in my experience. I’ve since left the paper and see more of my old contacts by chance when I nip over to the patch to go to the bank,

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  • September 17, 2015 at 9:05 am
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    Enjoyed a great holiday there in the summer, but from a news point of view I got the impression it was a “don’t quote me…don’t put my name in the paper!” sort of place.

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  • September 17, 2015 at 9:08 am
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    Sad news. The demise of the separate Lyme Regis News was billed as an improvement. Coupled with a price rise, many people in Lyme lost interest in it as coverage dwindled. You can’t trumpet the value of local papers when in fact they no longer are.

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  • September 17, 2015 at 9:11 am
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    “Exciting” news indeed for Bridport, the town that lacks a surprise around every corner.

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  • September 17, 2015 at 9:42 am
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    To pre-empt, and in honour of Jeff Jones – this story in digital format:

    “You’ll NEVER guess what happened to this historic, much-loved building next!!! And, NO, it didn’t involve ONE DIRECTION in a SEXY, WHEN IS, WHERE IS, CLOCKS GO BACK.

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  • September 17, 2015 at 10:05 am
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    Actually, it was a surprisingly good patch… You just had to look for the right sort of stories. In the space of a few months had a national story every couple of weeks, exclusive interviews with Bill Oddie (shortly after his row with the BBC); Arthur Smith; Michael Dobbs and a lot more. Shortlisted for an award and circulation was holding steady. But now it’s a far more exciting newspaper.

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  • September 17, 2015 at 10:09 am
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    The next step in this process will be the redundancy of those that have worked at heart of such a small community for many years. It can then only be a matter of time for the Bridport News is no more.

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  • September 17, 2015 at 10:54 am
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    Yes, it’s very sad what happened to it. It started going wrong pretty quickly after they decided to go red top tabloid (remember this is Dorset). stories Included one about a “gang of gypsies” stealing a woman’s purse… It had been dropped and was handed into the police (all the money still in it). Another asked: Is this Bridport’s most dangerous street? *sheesh!*

    It’s got about three more years as a paid for and 5-10 as a free before disappearing online. I used to project a 40 year future.

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  • September 17, 2015 at 10:55 am
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    So lucky ole Bridport loses another bit of real local Bridport & gains – what? Another gifte shoppe? Sad.

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  • September 17, 2015 at 2:17 pm
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    Shame, a proper weekly paper is my ideal work environment, I loved my old little office which was just like this. I can’t be bothered with huge offices packed with management and staff and rules.

    It’s a shame these places have all but died out now, it’s not just a reflection on the industry but society itself – everything has to be bigger, slicker, faster, there’s no time to smell the roses and enjoy a cup of tea while you work these days.

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  • October 2, 2015 at 1:29 pm
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    It all went wrong when some bright spark tried to turn it into the daily mail – sheesh!

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