A PR agency run by a former Society of Editors president has published a newspaper to celebrate an office move – dubbing the title the “world’s only guaranteed Covid-free newspaper” due to its lack of coronavirus content.

Intro, which was set up by Nick Turner, has printed the Historic Quarter News to celebrate the opening of the firm’s new offices next to Carlisle Cathedral.

The publication features stories about businesses in the area as well as Intro’s clients.

There is also a tongue-in-cheek sports page with an article about the Intro team looking for promotion which describes Nick, former digital strategy manager at the CN Group and SoE president in 2015-16, as “a veteran hack that knows how to handle the media”.

Some of the Intro team with the Historic Quarter News. From left: Sally Edgar, Helen Statham, Mandy Norwood, Nick Turner and Georgina Harland

Nick said: “I am enjoying life on the dark side in the world of PR, but it was fun to go back to producing a newspaper and engage the services of some former colleagues to help bring it together.

“Printing a newspaper might seem a bit old school and maybe it fits in with the retro theme of the pop-up shop, but it has been an effective way to celebrate a bit of a landmark for the agency.

“We’ve got a story to tell and we wanted to show how upbeat and proud we were about being in Carlisle’s historic quarter.

“We hope our HQ will bring more creative energy to the area and it certainly seems to have worked for the first weekend of the pop-up which had people queuing outside to get in.

“It’s a way for us to make the most of the space in our building while we’re still working at home a lot of the time and anyone booking the space can also come to us if they need PR or social media support.”

Intro was launched in 2018 by Nick and former CN colleague Helen Statham.

The agency now has nine staff and clients including the Cumberland Building Society, Eden District Council, Stagecoach and Paragon Veterinary Group.

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