CN Group Limited was formerly an independent local media business based in

Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from ) is a city in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. Carlisle's early history is marked by the establishment of a settlement called Luguvalium to serve forts along Hadrian's Wall in Roman Britain. Due to its pro ...

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...

, England, operating in print and radio. It is now owned by Newsquest and their newspapers are printed in Glasgow. The company was formerly known as the Cumbrian Newspapers Group Ltd but changed its name to reflect the fact that is no longer primarily a newspaper publisher. One of its principal subsidiaries, however, is still known as Cumbrian Newspapers Ltd.

History

The company can trace its origins to the founding of the ''Carlisle Patriot'' newspaper in 1815, which eventually became the ''Cumberland News''. Historical copies of the ''Carlisle Patriot'', dating back to 1817, are available to search and view in digitised form at The

British Newspaper Archive The British Newspaper Archive website provides access to searchable digitized archives of British and Irish newspapers. It was launched in November 2011. History The British Library's Newspapers section was based in Colindale in north London ...

.Digitised copies of the ''Carlisle Patriot''
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Radio

Until 2017, CN Group owned two radio stations: Lancaster-based The Bay and

Kendal Kendal, once Kirkby in Kendal or Kirkby Kendal, is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Westmorland and Furness, England. It lies within the River Kent's dale, from which its name is derived, just outside the boundary of t ...

-based Lakeland Radio. In October 2017 it was announced that both had been sold to the UK media company

Global Global may refer to: General *Globe, a spherical model of celestial bodies *Earth, the third planet from the Sun Entertainment * ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003 * ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007 * ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 198 ...

. The company formerly owned the Touch Radio Network stations in the Midlands outright until selling them to Quidem in June 2009. The two exceptions to this were the Loughborough licence, Oak FM, which was sold to the Lincs FM Group, and the Banbury Touch FM licence, which was sold to a private consortium and relaunched as Banbury Sound. It quickly became apparent that operating these licences outside of the regional network was not a commercially sensible move. As a result, Quidem acquired Banbury Sound in 2010 and Oak FM in 2012, effectively reforming the original CN Midlands network. In September 2019, it was announced that Quidem, the station's current owners, were running at a financial loss and the business had entered into a brand-licensing agreement with

Global Radio Global Media & Entertainment Limited, trading as Global, is a British media company formed in 2007. It is the owner of the largest commercial radio company in Europe having expanded through a number of historical acquisitions, including Chrysal ...

. This change means that the Quidem group of stations will take one of Global's brands. At the beginning of October,

Ofcom The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, internet, telecommunications and mail, postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom has wide-rang ...

opened a consultation following Quidem's request for its six stations to make significant changes to their formats. CN previously owned Mid FM in Northern Ireland. CN also previously owned Belfast CityBeat until January 2015 when it was sold to the Q Radio Network. They also had a shareholding in Carlisle-based CFM Radio, holding a further stake in neighbouring Border Television.

Titles

CN Group publishes daily and weekly newspapers and magazines for

Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...

Dumfries and Galloway Dumfries and Galloway (; ) is one of the 32 unitary council areas of Scotland, located in the western part of the Southern Uplands. It is bordered by East Ayrshire, South Ayrshire, and South Lanarkshire to the north; Scottish Borders to the no ...

and the

Scottish Borders The Scottish Borders is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It is bordered by West Lothian, Edinburgh, Midlothian, and East Lothian to the north, the North Sea to the east, Dumfries and Galloway to the south-west, South Lanarkshire to the we ...

. Since the takeover of the CN Group by Newsquest, it is now printed in Glasgow.

List of CN Group titles

Newspapers

*''24 – The North’s National'' – a weekday evening paper, launched 20 June 2016, closed 29 July 2016 *'' News and Star'' – daily evening paper circulated with separate East (except Friday and Sunday) and West (except Sunday) editions *'' North-West Evening Mail'' – daily paper circulated in

Furness Furness ( ) is a peninsula and region of Cumbria, England. Together with the Cartmel Peninsula it forms North Lonsdale, Historic counties of England, historically an exclave of Lancashire. On 1 April 2023 it became part of the new unitary author ...

and other parts of south Cumbria *''The Cumberland News'' – weekly (Fridays) covering East Cumbria; separate Main and Late Final editions *''Cumbrian Gazette'' – weekly

freesheet Free newspapers are distributed Gratis versus libre, free of charge, often in central places in cities and towns, on public transport, with other newspapers, or separately door-to-door. The revenues of such newspapers are based on advertising. T ...

; separate editions for East and West Cumbria *''Whitehaven News'' – weekly (Thursdays) *''Times & Star'' – weekly (Fridays); separate

Workington Workington is a coastal town and civil parish in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. The town is at the mouth of the River Derwent on the west coast, south-west of Carlisle and north-east of Whitehaven. At the 2021 census the ...

Maryport Maryport is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Cumberland (unitary authority), Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. The town is on the coast of the Solway Firth and lies at the northern end of the former Cumberland Co ...

and Cockermouth editions *''Hexham Courant'' – weekly *''Eskdale and Liddesdale Advertiser'' – weekly (Thursdays) *''Advertiser'' – commercially selective postcode distributed weekly freesheet covering South Cumbria

Magazines

*''Cumbria Life'' – monthly *''Carlisle Living'' – monthly *''Dumfries & Galloway Life – monthly (covering Dumfries & Galloway and Scottish Borders); formerly ''DGB Life'' *''In Cumbria'' – quarterly * ''Events'' * ''Lakesman – yearly * ''The Bay – bimestrial lifestyle magazine dedicated to the unique communities of Morecambe Bay, UK; launched in June 2017

Printing

CN Group prints items such as newspapers (local and national), magazines and leaflets.

References

External links

How a Whitehaven newspaper led the world's media for a day, The Independent, 6 June 2010
{{CN Group Mass media in Cumbria Mass media in Scotland Radio broadcasting companies of the United Kingdom Companies based in Carlisle, Cumbria