New weekly newspaper for Ceredigion launches Friday

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The Ceredigion Herald launches tomorrow (April 1).

Herald Newspapers PLC, the independent publishing company behind three west Wales weeklies has announced it is to launch a new title on Friday (April 1).

The owners of The Pembrokeshire Herald, The Carmarthenshire Herald and The Llanelli Herald are to launch a fourth newspaper in their region; The Ceredigion Herald.

Covering from Aberystwyth in the north to Cardigan in the south, the 70p every-Friday offering will be based on the same 88-page full colour tabloid format as its sister publications. Like the other Herald titles it will be double stapled. It will be going head to head with Newsquest’s Tivy-side Advertiser and Tindle’s Cambrian News.

The Ceredigion Herald will have an initial print run of 10,000 copies, and will be distributed by both Menzies and Smiths News to an initial 200 shops and supermarkets throughout the county of Ceredigion and surrounding areas.

The latest addition to the Herald series will also be printed in Wales, at the Trinity Mirror print works in Cardiff.

The paper will have 64 pages of unique content for Ceredigion and a weekly 24 page centre supplement which will carry advertising, features and news relevant to readers across west Wales

The first newspaper in the series, The Pembrokeshire Herald first launched in 2013. The newspaper now claims 17,000 weekly readers, and is the publisher’s flagship title.

The Carmarthenshire Herald and Llanelli Herald launched just over twelve months ago with a cover price of 50p, with a combined readership of 8000.

Managing Editor, Thomas Sinclair said: “It’s never easy to arrive in a county and start from scratch, but we have shown it can be done, and that The Herald is a successful format. I very much hope that the new paper will be as well received as the other three titles.”

He added: “We are looking forward to the challenges and opportunities which some with a new venture. We very much look forward to working with the community in Ceredigion – we want to make a real difference.”

The newspaper will be published mainly in English, but will carry more Welsh content than the other weeklies. The Ceredigion Herald will have three or four pages of Welsh every week and will also allow readers’ letters, contributor’s columns and obituaries in the Welsh language.

Advertising Sales Director, Tim Evans, said: “We have already had a strong response from the business community in Ceredigion. Many people are keen to see a new independent newspaper in west Wales – advertising spaces for the first month’s worth of editions is nearly completely sold.”

He added: “We are grateful for everyone’s support.”