The ''Sligo Weekender'' is a weekly local newspaper published every Thursday in

Sligo Sligo ( ; , meaning 'abounding in shells') is a coastal seaport and the county town of County Sligo, Ireland, within the western province of Connacht. With a population of 20,608 in 2022, it is the county's largest urban centre (constituting 2 ...

County Sligo County Sligo ( , ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Northern and Western Region and is part of the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht. Sligo is the administrative capital and largest town in ...

, in Ireland. It contains news of interest to Sligo town and county along with the surrounding counties of Leitrim,

Roscommon Roscommon (; ; ) is the county town and the largest town in County Roscommon in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is roughly in the centre of Ireland, near the meeting of the N60 road (Ireland), N60, N61 road (Ireland), N61 and N63 road (Irelan ...

and North Mayo.

History

The newspaper was founded in 1983 by Brian McHugh, initially as an advertising-funded '

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 ...

' with some local news. In 1996, McHugh sold the publication to Thomas Crosbie Holdings (TCH), publisher of the ''

Irish Examiner The ''Irish Examiner'', formerly ''The Cork Examiner'' and then ''The Examiner'', is an Republic of Ireland, Irish national daily newspaper which primarily circulates in the Munster region surrounding its base in Cork (city), Cork, though it is ...

'' and other titles; he remained as editor. It became a paid-for newspaper in 2002. In December 2010, TCH sold the tabloid newspaper to Carrick-on-Shannon native Kevin Mitchell, who operated a printing company in

Wexford Wexford ( ; archaic Yola dialect, Yola: ''Weiseforthe'') is the county town of County Wexford, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Wexford lies on the south side of Wexford Harbour, the estuary of the River Slaney near the southeastern corner of the ...

. In 2019, it was purchased from Mitchell by Dorothy Crean. Since its purchase by Crean, it is one of the few regional newspapers in Ireland that is locally owned.

Competition and circulation

As of 2007, the newspaper's competition included the '' Sligo Champion'' and '' Sligo Post''. According to circulation figures collated by the Audit Bureau of Circulations for late 2007, the Sligo Weekender then had a weekly circulation of approximately 7,900 copies.

Recognition

In 2004, the Sligo Weekender won a "community activity" award (for newspapers with circulations under 50,000) at the International Newspaper Marketing Awards. It also previously received an "award of excellence" at the European Newspaper Design Awards.

References

External links

* {{Newspapers in the Republic of Ireland, state=expanded 1983 establishments in Ireland Weekender Newspapers published in the Republic of Ireland Newspapers established in 1983 Organisations based in Sligo (town) Thomas Crosbie Holdings Weekly newspapers published in Ireland