A petition to save a newspaper office which hosts staff from several different titles has been launched by the National Union of Journalists.

The campaign aims to save the office of the Caernarfon & Denbigh Herald, which regional publisher Trinity Mirror plans to shut in an efficiency drive.

As reported on HTFP last month, the company announced it would shut the office, along with the headquarters of the Runcorn and Widnes Weekly News, at the end of June.

The Eastgate Street office currently houses the Herald, district staff working for the Daily Post, its weekly Welsh-language supplement Yr Herald Cymraeg, and the Bangor and Holyhead Mails.

Trinity Mirror says the decision will have “no impact” on editorial staff, although some advertising staff in Caernarfon are at risk of redundancy.

The petition, on the change.org website, had 189 signatures as of yesterday lunchtime.

An accompanying explanation reads: “A traditional centre of publishing, Caernarfon is an important civic, cultural and historic hub.

“It is home to crown, county and magistrates courts as well as the North West Wales coroner and local authority.

“The Caernarfon & Denbigh Herald was established in 1831 and is a multi-award-winning newspaper.

“We fear this office closure represents a further diminishment of Trinity Mirror’s commitment to local journalism in the region and could forebode the eventual closure of much-loved and much-valued newspapers.

“We call on Trinity Mirror to reverse its decision to close the Caernarfon office and to make public commitments to the future of our cherished local newspapers.”

A rally against the decision will also be held by NUJ members at Turf Square, Caernarfon, from 1pm on Saturday.

Journalists from the Herald will in future be based at the office of the North Wales Daily Post, in Llandudno Junction, while Weekly News staff will be based at the Liverpool Echo.

A Trinity Mirror spokesperson said: “The decision to close the Caernarfon office will have no impact on editorial staff or the newspapers produced in the area.

“We remain firmly committed to regional media and our titles in this area are very important parts of our portfolio.

“In this day and age, many businesses are seeing there is less requirement for physical regional offices and we are no different, as journalists work in the communities and remotely much more.

“The office was rarely used by the public as advertisements and queries are largely submitted digitally.

“This is therefore purely a behind-the-scenes business decision to review where we had an office that was outdated and no longer serving its purpose.

“There are better ways to use that cost, investing in editorial and digital rather than bricks and mortar. We can reassure the community that it will not impact our editorial commitment to the area whatsoever.”