A second major regional newspaper office is facing potential closure as a result of the cutbacks announced last week by Reach plc.
Reach has already confirmed that its office in Baldwin Street, Bristol is to be replaced by an “editorial meeting space.”
It is now understood that the company’s office at Eldon Court, Newcastle, is also under review as part of the cutbacks.
The city centre offices in Percy Street, pictured below, are home to Newcastle dailies the Chronicle and Journal as well as sister title the Sunday Sun and companion website Chronicle Live.
As part of the review of its cost base, Reach is carrying out an exercise to ensure it has the right size of workspace for each of its location.
While its big regional centres such as Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham and Hull are expected to remain open, it is believed to be looking at alternative options in Newcastle.
Both Newcastle and Bristol were among the original 15 ‘hubs’ retained when Reach closed most of its other newspaper offices in March 2021.
The decision – made after a staff survey which showed most employees wanted to work from home – meant daily titles such as the Cambridge News, Derby Telegraph, Leicester Mercury and Stoke Sentinel no longer had offices on their patch.
Reach announced last week that it was shedding 450 roles across the business – incuding 320 editorial posts.
Further details of where the editorial cutbacks will fall are expected to emerge over the next couple of days as chief digital publisher David Higgerson holds a series of so-called ‘town halls’ with affected staff.
Sentinel editor Marc Waddington has already announced he is leaving and is not expected to be replaced.
And yesterday we reported that Huddersfield Town reporter Steven Chicken is among those whose roles are being axed.
Other than confirming the Bristol office closure, Reach has so far said only that some of its smaller websites will be closing.
HTFP understands that among the sites facing closure including Wiltshire Live, Dorset Live, Staffordshire Live, Bedfordshire Live, Norfolk Live and Suffolk Live.