Read All About It!

With so much media coverage of newspapers in the, errm, newspapers recently, it seemed a rather apt time to be invited to take a tour of the offices of our local paper, The Courier, to see what I could uncover.

Clicking any of the photos in this post takes you to larger versions.

The editor, Ian Read, had invited us along a few weeks earlier whilst we were chatting about a new regular local feature soon to be launched. Naturally, I jumped at the chance to have a snoop around and believe me I wasn't disappointed, I was actually quite amazed.

They'd even laid on a parking space for me, how kind.

After we'd signed in and been patted down for any other local publications (I'm joking) Ian took us up the stairs and into the newsroom. I honestly hadn't realised how large an operation it takes to bring you your newspaper every Thursday. I also hadn't realised how small the crew was that brings you the Tunbridge Wells edition. You can see them in the foreground of the photo below and scattered throughout the article.

The newsroom with the Tunbridge Wells crew in the foreground.

Rather than hang around here disturbing the frantic flow of paperwork and journalists running around, Mrs Anke and I were whisked away for a tour of the building. We were led away from the coffee machine and water cooler down to the depths where the print presses once rumbled. We stood in what looked like a large dark warehouse, it was hard to imagine this was once home to those giant noisy machines pushing a river of paper around whilst a busy workforce threw the resulting bundles of papers into the backs of waiting vans, it's sadly now rented out for storage. Today the paper is electronically sent to a printers up North and printed alongside the huge nationals like The Sun.

The old print room.

Piles of old issues to be archived.

The Courier was born in 1872 out of one man's determination to produce a paper for the people and one to see off the long-established, and rather staid, Gazette, the broadsheet owned by the local colossus that was John Colbran.

That brave man was local journalist Matthew Edwardes. He felt that a prosperous town that was bordering Kent and Sussex, hence the name, was ready for a change. He felt that the people wanted a paper that was easier to read with clear type, large headlines, plenty of white space, and in a compact format. A design philosophy that still stands today no matter what medium you are in.

Ian Read, the editor, hard at work, well at least whilst he posed for this picture.

Starting off in a rather plain building in Grove Hill Road with second-hand presses, Edwardes and his printer, Thomas Ablott, built up the newspaper through determined effort and pure doggedness. After just a few years their circulation had completely overwhelmed the Gazette and had managed to even steal some of the advertisers from their more established rival. This was in part helped by their publication being half the price and more importantly carrying a section which posted the important visitors and residents of the town that week, a required read for those fashionable townsfolk who prided themselves on knowing everything and everyone.

Matthew toiling away.

Mary concentrating hard.

Matthew Edwardes died in 1926 having not recovered properly from a bout of the flu, it was said that he was a workaholic and that his death was the result of overwork and stress. Every member of the Courier staff attended his funeral. His portrait still hangs in the Courier's board room today proudly watching over those secret meetings editors have with their underlings.

Andy looking very serious on the phone.

Sam hard at work.

Today the Courier is no longer in Grove Hill Road, after a devastating fire and subsequently outgrowing the old building they moved to the Industrial Estate in 1974. Upon my visit there was a lot of packing going on as they are on the move yet again and I'm happy to say that they are moving right back into the centre of town. A great boon for our local economy, and also for the journalist's diets I would imagine.

Want a story? Hang around here, well maybe not next to the papers, that'd just be odd.

I digress, back to the tour. We wandered a maze of corridors and stairs, all of which are lined with the most gorgeous watercolour drawings of staff and stories, alas Ian couldn't tell me who had created them but if anyone knows then please drop me a line. We arrived at a door marked Photography Department, aha my kind of department, but hiding my camera under my arm we made swift progress through here not stopping. Photographers are very sensitive apparently.

We walked on, down stairs and up stairs, past some offices being packed neatly into boxes and into the Board Room. Taking care to knock first in case there was any secret goings-on happening inside we crept in for a snoop about. Here we got to see the portraits of the founder and his wife, they were recently taken along to the BBC Antiques Roadshow for valuation but at £50 they are worth more to the town sentimentally.

The portraits in the Board Room.

The Board Room table.

The latest issues.

Turning the lights off we walked the corridor to the very end to find a completely empty room that nobody knows the use of, rather intriguing I thought. Especially the set of keys handing on the wall to which nobody knows the lock.

Anyhoo, we walked along more winding corridors and back into the frenzy of the news room where Mrs Anke and I were allowed free reign to wander about and look for juicy stories and gossip. Alas some of the amazing things we found are reserved for the pages of print so you'll have to buy a copy instead. Speaking of which, keep an eye out for the new community page arriving in the paper soon, it'll be very handy for those of you wanting to get your community projects into the paper.

Another view of the newsroom.

One of many awards.

Pile of old issues.

We're really looking forward to part two of our tour when the paper finally moves back into town. A huge thank you to Ian, Mary, Andy, Matthew and Sam for making us very welcome.