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Daily staff to move 33 miles away but publisher rubbishes MP’s office closure claim

A regional daily could leave its historic office for smaller premises with some staff set to be relocated more than 30 miles away.

Newsquest has confirmed it is looking for an alternative to the current North West Evening Mail offices in Abbey Road, Barrow.

Although the publisher has insisted the title will retain a base in the town, a number of staff are set to be relocated to the offices of sister title the Westmorland Gazette, in Kendal, in a move which could also see some working remotely.

Newsquest has so far declined to clarify which staff are affected by the plans, which were unveiled on Friday.

A Newsquest spokesman said: “We are reviewing our buildings which are in some cases no longer fit for purpose and looking for an alternative more cost-effective office in Barrow. In our modern newsroom reporters are armed with the latest technology so are able to work remotely on patch.”

But a suggestion by local MP John Woodcock that the paper could leave Barrow altogether were branded “complete cobblers” by the publisher.

 

Posting on Twitter, Mr Woodcock wrote: “Shocked to hear [The Mail’s] new owners have launched consultation to downsize or even shut the historic Abbey Road office. [Newsquest], did you plan on asking the town’s views? Barrow’s paper needs to stay in Barrow.”

Newsquest North managing director David Coates responded: “I can confirm any suggestion of The Mail leaving Barrow is complete cobblers. In fact we’re hiring more reporters there – if anyone is interested, please get in touch.”

Mr Woodcock replied: “Sorry David, are you accusing me or your staff of lying? I take a pretty dim view of that. I don’t think you’ve ever taken the time to introduce yourself? Happy to speak if you have the time to pick up the phone.”

The reporting vacancies in Barrow referred to by David in his tweet are currently being advertised on HoldtheFrontPage.

Jonathan Lee, managing director for Newsquest’s former CN Group titles, told staff of the changes in an announcement which has been seen by HTFP.

He wrote: “As you know the company has brought together the former CN Group companies with its existing publishing operations in Kendal to form Newsquest Cumbria. We are now considering the most effective structure to adopt within Newsquest Cumbria, to help place the business on a sustainable and profitable footing.

“To this end I can confirm that the company is proposing to make changes to the current operations at Barrow and Kendal. If adopted, the proposed changes will result in some staff who are currently based in the Barrow office being based in our offices in Kendal and/or working remotely, possibly from home.

“The proposal will enable us to make efficient use of all the resources available, taking advantage of our investment in new technology.”

A formal consultation on the company’s proposals began on Friday with a collective consultation meeting due to take place tomorrow.

The proposed changes would be introduced over several months, with those initially affected relocating to Kendal around 6 August.

The shortest driving route between Barrow and Kendal is 33 miles, with the journey taking around an hour.

Since buying the CN Group in March, Newsquest has oveseen the closure of the Carlisle printing press with the loss of 34 jobs, the introduction of a voluntary redundancy scheme for non-reporting roles, and plans to axe up to seven staff photographer roles.

13 comments

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  • July 16, 2018 at 12:53 pm
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    It’s Newsquest, for heaven’s sake. The prospect of closure has to be lurking in the background somewhere.

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  • July 16, 2018 at 1:10 pm
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    Why are there fewer comments on this site these days? Suspect one reason could simply be that no-one is in the slightest bit surprised any more by what the asset strippers running this industry do.

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  • July 16, 2018 at 3:08 pm
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    So if there was still an office there why would staff need to work remotely? Of course they’re looking to close it.

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  • July 16, 2018 at 3:49 pm
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    Sad news indeed. I cut my journalistic teeth in the Abbey Road office as an apprentice back in the 60s. Among the trainee journos was the late lamented Telegraph political sketch writer Frank Johnston.

    At that time it was a typical English local evening newspaper with a reasonable circulation of 29,000 for a town with a population of 65,000.

    Reading this story simply reinforces how changing social habits and leaden-footed management has heaped untold damage on our industry.

    A retreat to Kendal – it’s worse than Dunkirk.

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  • July 16, 2018 at 4:55 pm
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    Absolutely ridiculous. In “local” terms 33 miles is the other side of the moon. I live 3 miles from Harrogate in Knaresborough but the local paper for Knaresborough spends most of its pages reporting on events in Harrogate whereas most people in my town think that even 3 miles is too far away. I wouldn’t call them small-minded – it’s just that they want their local paper to report more fully on local events – but how can that be when there isn’t even a reporter based locally.

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  • July 16, 2018 at 5:18 pm
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    Suspect the ‘base in the town’ will be just big enough for the advertising staff to park their company cars, and behinds, at.

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  • July 16, 2018 at 5:41 pm
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    Why would anyone with a mere iota of common sense believe a word that comes out of the corporate mouth of Newsquest?

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  • July 16, 2018 at 7:05 pm
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    Oh dear. What goes around comes around. When I were a lass, the NWEM was one of Westminster Press’s flagship papers, along with the Gazette. Then Barrow industry went belly up, and WP got rid of the Mail sharpish – to a chap called Philip Davis, who ran everything on the thinnest of shoestrings. But he recruited one Keith Sutton as editor, who basically made those shoestring stretch to greatness. Without him, CN wouldn’t have wanted the NWEM; so now, when they’ve finally been beaten down, the poor old Mail has been swallowed again. But hey, it still exists – which it wouldn’t have if WP had kept it. But now, what hope? Not a lot, I fear…

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  • July 17, 2018 at 2:05 pm
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    You’re right @OneTimeSub
    However I also believe many are fed up with often valid and relevant comments,once posted on HTFP, subsequently taken down after a ‘high up’ complains as a nerve has been hit or their blatant smoke screen PR piece has been seen through.
    The removal of comments I notice,is almost always followed by a ‘keyboard warrior/bitter old hack’ cliched comment by said complainer in response.

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  • July 17, 2018 at 2:39 pm
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    There have been no comments removed on this story, Employee X. The most common reason for the removal of comments is that they breach the story comments policy.

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  • July 17, 2018 at 2:50 pm
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    I was commenting in general terms Paul and in response to the comment as to why there are ‘fewer comments on this site these days”

    however if the story comments policy is being breached surely the post should not be published in the first place rather than to take it down once posted.

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  • July 18, 2018 at 4:36 pm
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    Newsquest policy as always is to cut back on all fronts till quality drains away and the pips squeak. They’ve become infamous for it, sadly. They are clinging on to make good profits.

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