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Journalists ‘learn of office move in supermarket press release’

Regional daily journalists discovered they are to move offices after receiving a press release about a supermarket being built on their current site, it has been claimed.

Publisher Trinity Mirror has confirmed that the North Wales Daily Post will be moving to a new home in Colwyn Bay, five miles away from its current Llandudno Junction base.

However a rival hyperlocal website has claimed that the first some Daily Post staff knew of the plan was when they read a press release issued by cut-price retailer Lidl about its plans to redevelop the site.

The story was then carried in rival publications including NWN Media’s News North Wales website and hyperlocal portal Wrexham.com before it had been carried in the Daily Post itself.

The Post’s current Vale Road home

No date has yet been set for the move from Vale Road, the Post’s home of 16 years, to Bryn Eirias, on Abergele Road, Colwyn Bay.

The new office building was built in 2007 and will become home to more than 30 journalists and more than a dozen commercial staff who produce the Post, the North Wales Weekly News, the Caernarfon and Denbigh Herald and the Bangor and Holyhead Mail series.

According to the Wrexham.com story, news of the move “came as a shock” to Daily Post staff.

One told the website: “The fact that staff working hard at the office have found out they could be moving where they work through a press release from a supermarket chain leaves a bitter taste.”

Trinity Mirror has not commented on the Wrexham.com story, but has issued a statement confirming the forthcoming move.

Daily Post editor Andrew Campbell said: “We have some great memories of Llandudno Junction but it’s time to move on. We are delighted to be staying in the heart of the beautiful North Wales region in a location that is perfectly placed to proudly serve our loyal readership.

“Bryn Eirias offers improved facilities, particularly internet access It’s also close to the police headquarters and opposite Parc Eirias which plays host to the region’s top rugby team RGC as well as some of North Wales’ top concerts.

“Colwyn Bay is on the up and we’re delighted to become part of its resurgence. We firmly believe this new office is perfectly suited to enable Wales’ biggest selling regional newspaper and the region’s most viewed news website to prosper for many years to come.”

The company says a more detailed announcement will be issued in the coming weeks along with a date for the move.

Trinity Mirror North Wales business development director Andy Phelan added: “Staying in the local area was an essential part of our ongoing commitment to supporting local business with their marketing strategies whilst upgrading premises to more appropriately reflect our modern multi media services means it is an exciting time for our North Wales operation.”

The Daily Post was founded in Liverpool in 1855 and has been North Wales’ main daily newspaper for more than a century.

The Welsh Daily Post was managed from the Liverpool Daily Post and Echo’s Old Hall Street base until November 2000 when it moved into the North Wales Weekly News offices at Vale Road.

4 comments

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  • March 1, 2017 at 8:06 am
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    Outstanding! Not only does this show TM for what it is when it comes to its total lack of regard of staff, it’s also shown how hyperlocals are able to outmaneuver it. What a shoddy operation it is these days – and that is no slight on the hard-working journalists, but the way it’s run. A disgrace.

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  • March 1, 2017 at 11:45 am
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    “Bryn Eirias offers improved facilities, particularly internet access.”

    Is it about 1999?!

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  • March 1, 2017 at 12:46 pm
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    I began my newspaper career at the Vale Road offices some 27 years ago, working for the North Wales Weekly News. They were awful offices even back then – little natural light, below main road level, and if the windows were open there was awful traffic fume pollution. The newsroom was cramped and dated even by 1980s’ standards. in my opinion Trinity Mirror should have built new offices many years ago.
    The irony, is that they closed their Colwyn Bay office – which although small, was central to the town – many years ago.
    Having worked for Trinity Mirror at three of their sites over the intervening years, their lack of respect for / and communication with, their employees does not surprise me.
    (a retired editor)

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  • March 1, 2017 at 2:57 pm
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    used to think the public treated hacks like scum. Now it is the management.

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