AddThis SmartLayers

Local newspaper publisher teams up with charity to launch new title

A local newspaper publisher has launched its fourth new title in five years after joining forces with a charity.

Social Spider CIC has announced the launch of EC1 Echo, to cover Clerkenwell and the EC1 postcode area of London.

The Walthamstow-based community interest company has already launched three other titles in the capital – the Waltham Forest Echo, in 2014, Tottenham Community Press, in 2016, and Enfield Dispatch, in 2018.

The free paper will be published six times a year and distributed to 5,000 properties in Clerkenwell.

EC1 Echo

A total of five hundred copies will also be handed out to cafes, pubs, communities centres, libraries and other venues, while an e-edition can also be downloaded online.

The title has been launched in partnership with Clerkenwell charity The Peel, which runs social projects in that area of London.

Social Spider managing director David Floyd will serve as the Echo’s publisher and Clerkenwell-based journalist Oliver Bennett as its editor.

David told HTFP: “It will operate on a broadly similar model to our existing community newspapers – Waltham Forest Echo, Tottenham Community Press and Enfield Dispatch.

“The key differences are that The Peel is partnering with us to support the project in its initial stage as part of the Connecting Clerkenwell programme, and that it’s focused on relative small local area.

“It is a genuine ‘hyperlocal’ – and we’re keen to see how a print publication will work at that level.

“Responses so far have been extremely positive and we have a well attend launch event last week at [Clerkenwell pub] The Apple Tree. The next issue – January/February – will be published at the beginning of January.”

One comment

You can follow all replies to this entry through the comments feed.
  • November 26, 2019 at 1:12 pm
    Permalink

    Great news and well done to everyone involved!
    It’s a good looking front page too IMHO

    It’s this kind of grass roots hyper local community newspaper that I truly believe is the future of regional publishing.
    The larger publishers are losing markets, audiences and readers by the week and have shown they’re incapable of working at this base level and are focusing at the almost impossible to monetise digital news sector so it’s up to publications and groups such as this to give the public what they are missing.

    Very good luck with this and all the other truly local independent papers growing in number out there.

    Report this comment

    Like this comment(10)