Newsquest has confirmed further print closures at Archant but says it now has no more plans to shut any of its remaining newspaper titles.

HTFP reported on Thursday that the publisher is ceasing publication of the Cambs Times, Diss Mercury, Thetford and Brandon Times, West Suffolk Mercury and Felixstowe Extra after claiming the free newspapers are “too far gone” to survive in print.

Now, it has confirmed the closure of Archant’s Surrey Life magazine, while Cornwall Life is being merged with Cornwall Home & Garden.

The Wisbech Standard, an edition of the Cambs Times, will also cease publication, although its stablemate the Ely Standard will remain in print.

However, Newsquest says it has also been able to save other titles that were previously threatened with closure under Archant’s previous ownership.

A company spokesman said: “We are pleased to report that good progress has been made in improving the other Archant loss-makers that the previous Archant management had earmarked to close, and we have no plans to close further print titles.”

The Wisbech Standard was launched in 1888 and had a print circulation of 8,210, according to ABC figures for 2021.

Both it and the Cambs Times are edited by John Elworthy, who also oversees the Ely Standard.

Newsquest, which took over Archant earlier this year, has confirmed the Ely paper will continue to be published and that the editor post will remain following the changes.

Surrey Life, which closed last month, was among a number of regional ‘Life’ magazines previously run by Archant.

Newsquest chief executive Henry Faure Walker had previously warned the survival of Archant’s newspapers had “been in question for some time”, stating in a letter to Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries that a number of its free titles were loss-making enterprises.

Ms Dorries had previously announced she was “minded to” intervene in Newsquest’s takeover of Archant, but Henry warned her such a move would “cause further harm to the Archant staffing, titles and journalism, much of which may be irreparable.”

He added: “This would likely be very damaging to the prospects of getting these loss-making titles back to a sustainable position, using our expertise and common business resources to try to improve the titles for readers and advertisers before it is too late.”

Ms Dorries later cleared the takeover following the warning.