 Western Morning News front page, February 18, 2023 | |
| Type | Daily newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Tabloid |
| Owner | Reach Plc |
| Editor | Charlie Elder |
| Founded | 3 January 1860 |
| Political alignment | Independent;[citation needed] historicallyLiberal |
| Headquarters | Millbay Road,Plymouth |
| Circulation | 7,326 (as of 2022)[1] |
| Sister newspapers | The Herald |
TheWestern Morning News is a dailyregional newspaper founded in 1860, and covering theWest Country includingDevon,Cornwall, theIsles of Scilly and parts ofSomerset andDorset in the South West of England.
TheWestern Morning News is published byReach Plc. Its main office is based inPlymouth.Charlie Elder is Editor.
TheWestern Morning News was founded on 3 January 1860, byWilliam Saunders and Edward Spender, father of SirWilfrid Spender. It has been published continuously since the first edition, including throughout the1926 General Strike and thePlymouth Blitz.[2] By 1920, the Devon newspaper market was getting cramped, with all papers running into financial difficulties. In the same year, SirLeicester Harmsworth acquired theWestern Morning News; from 1 February 1921, theWestern Daily Mercury andWestern Evening Herald were also taken over, with the papers continuing to be published from the oldMercury offices in Frankfort Street, Plymouth. Shortly beforeWorld War II, new offices were constructed on the same site after the demolition of the previous premises; the modern construction allowed the offices to survive the Blitz and publishing continued there until a move in 1993 to a purpose-built building in Derriford, Plymouth, designed by architectNicholas Grimshaw. In 2013, the Western Morning News and sister titleThe Herald (Plymouth) moved into offices in Millbay Road in the centre of the city.
On 8 February 1997, theWestern Morning News followed most local newspapers in the UK and changed format frombroadsheet totabloid. In 2012,Local World acquired the ownership of Northcliffe Media fromDaily Mail and General Trust,[3] The paper had a Sunday edition from June 2014 until January 2016.[4] In November 2015, Trinity Mirror purchased Local World. In 2018 Trinity Mirror rebranded as Reach Plc.Reach Plc is one of Britain's biggest newspaper groups. Previous editors of the Western Morning News include Colin Davidson, Barrie Williams, Alan Qualtrough, Bill Martin and Philip Bowern.
TheWestern Morning News is published six days a week and provides readers with regional, national and international news. Supplements cover a range of topics, including Farming on Wednesday and Property in the Saturday edition, which also includes Antiques, Puzzles and lifestyle magazine West. The newspaper's Reach Plc sister websites in the Westcountry are www.devonlive.com, www.cornwalllive.com and www.plymouthlive.co.uk.
Sherlock Holmes: "The detection of [printing] types is one of the most elementary branches of knowledge to the special expert in crime, though I confess that once when I was very young I confused theLeeds Mercury with the Western Morning News." (The Hound of the Baskervilles, Ch. 5).