Identity area
Type of entity
Authorized form of name
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
History
Part of Archant Ltd : Jacob Henry Tillett, Jeremiah Colman, John Copeman and Thomas Jarrold launched the Norwich-based Norfolk News in 1845. The Colman and Copeman families still retain close involvement in the business.
The Eastern Weekly Press, launched in 1867, was renamed the Eastern Daily Press in 1870 with the Eastern Evening News following in 1882. As the business grew it moved premises in 1902, 1959 and again in the late 1960s to its present headquarters location at Prospect House in the centre of Norwich. About then Eastern Counties Newspapers come together with the East Anglian Daily Times Company to form Eastern Counties Newspapers Group (ECNG). ECNG developed further with the launch of Community Media Limited (CML) in 1981 and in 1985 purchased the East Anglia-based Advertiser group of weekly free newspapers. In 1993 it bought four weekly newspapers in Huntingdon, Ely, Wisbech and March from Thomson. The acquisition of Peterhead-based P Scrogie followed shortly afterwards.
In April 1998, ECNG bought Home Counties Newspapers Holdings plc with an agreed bid of approximately £58m. HCNH published a range of 26 weekly paid and free titles across Greater London and the Home Counties. The title portfolio included the Hampstead & Highgate Express, the South Essex Recorder series, the Herts Advertiser series, the Comet series, the Herald group and the Welwyn & Hatfield Times. Consumer magazine publisher Market Link Publishing, the forerunner of Archant Specialist, was acquired by ECNG for £5m in autumn 1999. Its titles include Photography Monthly, Professional Photographer, Pilot and Sport Diver.
In 2000 the launch of a county magazine in Norfolk saw the beginning of Archant Life. The division had acquisitions and launches in the North West and North East, the Midlands , East, South West, South and South East of England. In March 2002, ECNG changed its name to Archant. In December 2003, Archant purchased 27 weekly newspapers from Independent News and Media in two separate deals worth up to £62m. The titles included the Islington Gazette, the East London Advertiser, the Barking & Dagenham Post and the Kentish Times series.
Archant Ltd developed further in the following years - see https://www.archant.co.uk/articles/about-us-our-history/ (accessed 28-5-2019).
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