''Waltham Forest Guardian'' is a weekly local newspaper sold every Thursday in the London boroughs of

Waltham Forest The London Borough of Waltham Forest () is an outer London borough formed in 1965 from the merger of the municipal boroughs of Leyton, Walthamstow and Chingford. The borough's administrative headquarters are at Waltham Forest Town Hall, wh ...

and Redbridge. The paper is published by

Newsquest Newsquest Media Group Limited is the second largest publisher of regional and local newspapers in the United Kingdom. It is owned by the American mass media holding company Gannett. It has 205 brands across the UK, publishing online and in pr ...

, as part of its East London and West Essex Guardian Series (also branded as ''Your Local Guardian''), which includes papers covering neighbouring areas, such as the '' Epping Forest Guardian'' and the '' Wanstead and Woodford Guardian''. The newspaper's weekly circulation is 2,508 copies, according to ABC figures for July to December 2017.

History

Early days

The newspaper was founded in 1876 under the name ''The Walthamstow and Leyton Guardian''. In 1935 the ''Walthamstow Guardian'' opened new headquarters in Forest Road. The newspaper group merged with the ''Epping Gazette'' series in 1942. In 1978 the company moved to new headquarters in Forest Road, Walthamstow. Production later moved to an office in Larkshall Road, Highams Park.

Relocation from Waltham Forest

In 2009 production of the newspaper moved out of Waltham Forest for the first time in its history, with staff relocating to an office in nearby Epping in Essex. The newspaper subsequently relocated again to a

office in Watford. In May 2015

announced it was moving some of the newspaper's production to a 'subbing hub' in

Weymouth, Dorset Weymouth ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the Dorset (district), Dorset district, in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. Situated on a sheltered bay at the mouth of the River Wey, Dorset, River Wey, south of the county town of ...

. The publisher said the move was an investment in the 'installation of a new editorial system to improve operational efficiency within the business and save costs'. But just over a year later, in August 2016, the move was dubbed a 'failed experiment' by the

National Union of Journalists The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) is a trade union supporting journalists in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The NUJ was founded in 1907 and has 20,693 members. It is a member of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), Trades ...

after

announced it was cutting 19 jobs at the Weymouth site and again moving production of its newspapers back to local regions. The Weymouth office was then closed in June 2017.

Rebranding

In September 2018 the newspaper was rebranded as ''Your Local Guardian'', the result of a merger between the Chingford, Wanstead and Woodford and Waltham Forest editions. The newspaper had an excellent training scheme and a shorthand class run by Miss Bell. Some reporters went onto Fleet Street and into television. The Daily Mail's veteran sports writer Jeff Powell is a former staffer. Anton Antonowicz, who became an award winning war correspondent with the Daily Mirror, Dorothy Byrne who became Channel Four's head of news and Andy Simpson (Daily Mail letters editor) were also on the staff of the Waltham Forest Guardian. Steve Gardner, who died from cancer, was an accomplished and respected TV journalist, who also started out on this local East London newspaper.

Editors

* Rex Pardoe 1970's * John Yates 1980's * Peter Dyke 2000s * Pat Stannard (Wanstead and Woodford) 2000s - 2008 * Amanda Patterson (group editor) 2007 - 2012 * Anthony Longden (editorial director) 2008 - 2012 * Tim Jones (group editor) 2012 - 2017 * Victoria Birch (group editor) 2017–present

References

External links

Waltham Forest Guardian
Media and communications in the London Borough of Waltham Forest London newspapers {{England-newspaper-stub