A local newspaper has blamed a combination of Brexit and the coronavirus pandemic for its decision to cease print publication.

The Bradley Stoke Journal has announced it will no longer be available in print after this month due to increasing print costs.

The Journal, run by editor Stephen Horton, has been delivered for free to 8,700 homes across Bradley Stoke, near Bristol, since May 2013.

However, it will retain its recently-revamped website and social media outlets following the decision.

In an editorial, Stephen wrote: “Printing a free newspaper and distributing it to thousands of homes has always been a financially challenging exercise, but thanks to the tremendous support of our advertisers, we have managed to keep our heads above water and continue publishing high-quality products for over nine years.

“However, cost pressures resulting from Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic, combined with declining demand within the wider print advertising market, have brought matters to a head in the last couple of years.

“Most recently, the energy crisis has led to printing prices rocketing, and the notification of a further increase – the third in 10 months – from 1 April has unfortunately been the final straw.”

Stephen noted he was also approaching “normal retirement age”.

He added: “Whereas it might have been possible to struggle on for a few more years by lowering the quality threshold and throwing a magazine together from poor quality and irrelevant press releases, that is not a path we wanted to go down.

“But the good news is that we will be continuing our extensive local news coverage on all our existing online channels: website, Facebook and Twitter.”