The editor voted the best of the century by HoldtheFrontPage readers has played down talk of a ‘legacy’ as he stepped down after a quarter of a century in the role.

Noel Doran, pictured, worked his final day as a full-time employee at the Irish News this week after more than 30 years at the title, the last 25 of them as editor.

Noel, who will now work as a consultant at the Belfast-based title, looked back on his career in an in-depth interview with his successor, Chris Sherrard.

Having first joined the paper at the height of the Troubles in 1993, he recalled an era in which staff were not allowed to leave the newspaper’s offices by the front door at night.

Said Noel: “Those were different times. Society was on the cusp of changing, not that we knew it at the time. There were two different theories: one, that things were moving in the background here and hopefully they’re moving in the right direction, and the other theory was we’re all doomed because 1993 really was a bad year.

“You had the Shankill bomb, followed by Greysteel and various other catastrophes and people were talking about civil war so they were brutal times, no two ways about it.

“It was known that there were talks going on in the background and the coverage of it completely dominated the agenda but, also, you’re conscious that you have to look after your staff.

“This was inner-city Belfast in 1993; Donegall Street was the proverbial dark street so we had to be very careful and certainly nobody was allowed to leave by the front door at night.”

Despite his many awards and plaudits – including being voted the 21st century’s best editor by HTFP readers in 2020 – Noel dismissed talk of a ‘legacy.’

He said: “I leave legacy to the politicians. All the awards and the plaudits over the years, it wouldn’t be something that concerns me too much.

“As long as the paper is in decent shape and as long as the staff have the ability and motivation and understanding of their role, you’d be happy with that.”

The full interview can be read here.