30/09/2026
There will be no more reporters anymore, they ceased production on 30th Sept 2026.
𝟭𝟳𝟭 𝗬𝗘𝗔𝗥𝗦.
𝗚𝗢𝗢𝗗𝗕𝗬𝗘 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗡𝗢𝗪.
After 171 years of telling the stories of the nine towns of Tameside, the Tameside Reporter will cease production on 30th September.
There are some decisions in business that are about numbers.
There are others that mean much more than that.
This is one of them.
After 171 years, the Tameside Reporter will cease production on 30th September 2026.
The Reporter isn’t simply a newspaper.
It is part of local history.
For generations, it has recorded the lives, achievements, celebrations, arguments, tragedies and special everyday stories of the communities that today make up Tameside.
Ashton under Lyne. Audenshaw. Denton. Droylsden. Dukinfield. Hyde. Longdendale. Mossley. Stalybridge.
Nine communities with their own identities and histories.
For 171 years, the Reporter has had the privilege of telling their stories.
𝟭𝟳𝟭 𝗬𝗘𝗔𝗥𝗦 𝗢𝗙 𝗟𝗢𝗖𝗔𝗟 𝗟𝗜𝗙𝗘
The world has changed almost beyond recognition since the Reporter first appeared.
But the purpose of a local newspaper has remained remarkably simple.
To record what happens.
To give people a voice.
To celebrate achievement.
To ask questions.
To support the community.
And to create a record of local life that remains long after the events themselves have passed.
The Reporter has recorded births, deaths, weddings and anniversaries.
It has covered elections, major events and moments that changed our towns.
It has reported from council chambers, courtrooms, football grounds, schools, theatres, businesses and community centres.
It has celebrated local heroes.
Supported campaigns.
Promoted businesses.
Championed charities.
Covered football, cricket, rugby and grassroots sport.
Celebrated our schools and young people.
And told thousands upon thousands of stories about ordinary local people.
Together, those stories have created an extraordinary record of 171 years of life in this community.
𝗪𝗘 𝗛𝗔𝗩𝗘 𝗢𝗡𝗟𝗬 𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥 𝗕𝗘𝗘𝗡 𝗖𝗨𝗦𝗧𝗢𝗗𝗜𝗔𝗡𝗦
Nobody truly owns something with 171 years of history.
You become its custodian for a period of time.
We are immensely proud to have been among those custodians.
But today our thoughts are also with all the people who came before us.
The owners and publishers.
The editors.
The journalists who knocked on doors and found the stories.
The photographers who captured moments that became part of local history.
The printers.
The designers.
The sales teams.
The administrators and distributors.
The correspondents and contributors.
And countless others whose names may never have appeared in the newspaper but whose work made sure the Reporter appeared week after week.
We are simply the latest generation to have carried that responsibility.
It has been a privilege.
This decision has not been taken quickly or easily.
Since 2019, we have invested a huge amount of time and money in the Reporter.
Significant sacrifices have been made and an enormous amount of work has taken place behind the scenes to protect the Reporter and the wider media operation.
We believed that a newspaper with 171 years of heritage deserved every reasonable opportunity to find a sustainable future.
We still believe that.
But the commercial world surrounding local newspapers has changed dramatically.
The pressure on local advertising has been relentless.
At the same time, employment, printing, distribution, energy and operating costs have continued to increase.
External pressures largely outside our control have also taken a significant toll on a small independent media business.
A newspaper can be loved and still no longer be commercially sustainable.
History, affection and goodwill matter enormously.
But they cannot, on their own, pay for journalism, printing, distribution and the people required to produce a newspaper every week.
For too long, the gap between the cost of producing the Reporter and the commercial support available to sustain it has continued to grow.
𝗡𝗢𝗪 𝗪𝗘 𝗛𝗔𝗩𝗘 𝗧𝗢 𝗦𝗧𝗢𝗣
There comes a moment when you have to recognise reality.
For us, that moment is now.
Continuing to produce the Reporter regardless of the financial consequences would ultimately put our other media platforms, products, services and jobs at risk.
We cannot responsibly allow that to happen.
So we have made the hardest decision.
We have to stop.
Not because we have stopped believing in the Reporter.
Not because we have stopped believing in Tameside.
And certainly not because we have stopped believing in local journalism.
We are stopping because we have a responsibility to protect what we have built, make the wider business stronger and create the space and resources needed to consider what may be possible in the future.
Sometimes protecting a legacy means recognising when you can no longer carry it in the same way.
𝗟𝗢𝗖𝗔𝗟 𝗠𝗘𝗗𝗜𝗔 𝗪𝗜𝗟𝗟 𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗨𝗘
The end of Reporter production does not mean the end of our commitment to Tameside.
Local news will continue across our radio, digital and social platforms.
Our sports coverage will grow.
Our business coverage and the Biz Network will expand.
The Glossop Chronicle will continue in print and develop further.
The Glossop and High Peak Business Awards will expand.
The TOUR will continue its development into an all year round running and community platform.
And our photography, podcast, video, audio, digital and production services will become an increasingly important part of what we do.
Our wider media audience is growing.
Almost 150,000 people every week now engage with our products, generating around 9 million views every month across our platforms.
People haven’t stopped caring about local stories.
They haven’t stopped caring about their town.
And they haven’t stopped caring about local news, sport, businesses, organisations and people.
The way they consume that content has changed.
Now we must change too.
𝗡𝗜𝗡𝗘 𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗠𝗨𝗡𝗜𝗧𝗜𝗘𝗦. 𝗖𝗢𝗨𝗡𝗧𝗟𝗘𝗦𝗦 𝗦𝗧𝗢𝗥𝗜𝗘𝗦. 𝟭𝟳𝟭 𝗬𝗘𝗔𝗥𝗦.
There are too many people to thank individually.
So we simply say thank you.
To every reader who ever picked up a Reporter.
Every business that advertised with us.
Every contributor who sent us a story, photograph or letter.
Every charity and voluntary organisation that trusted us to tell its story.
Every community group.
Every theatre and arts organisation.
Every school and college.
Every football, cricket, rugby and grassroots sports club.
Every journalist, photographer, salesperson, designer, administrator, distributor and volunteer who has been part of this newspaper.
And every person who has cared enough about the Reporter to read it, challenge it, support it, criticise it, contribute to it or simply make it part of their week.
Most of all, thank you to the people of:
Ashton under Lyne
Audenshaw
Denton West
Dane Bank Droylsden
Dukinfield
Hyde
Longdendale
Mossley
Stalybridge
For 171 years, you gave the Reporter its stories.
You made its history.
And you gave generations of journalists the privilege of recording a small part of your lives.
We know that we are only one chapter in that remarkable story.
We are immensely proud to have been part of it.
Now we have to stop.
We have to protect what remains.
We have to grow stronger.
And we have to give a title with 171 years of history the time and space to see what its next chapter might one day look like.
The presses may stop.
The history doesn’t.
And perhaps there are still chapters of the Reporter story waiting to be written.
For now, after 171 remarkable years:
GOODBYE FOR NOW, AND THANK YOU.
