Hi, finally found you the Observer information I have been looking for. Yep, Willow The Wisp, you were correct about Preston.
The Accrington Observer was founded in 1887 by the Toulmin family of Preston, owners of the Preston Guardian and Blackburn Times, who decided to extend their interests. During the first four years of its publication it struggled against competition from The Accrington Times and the Accrington Gazette (microfilmed copies of which can be viewed in Accrington Local Studies library) and the Toulmin family, rightly or wrongly decided to sell.
The papers manager and editor was a Mr Richard Shaw Crossley. He must have had faith in the paper, and he borrowed £1000 from a family member. After only four months, he was in a position to buy out one of the rivals, The Accrington Times, and merged the two papers under the name we all knew, THE ACCRINGTON OBSERVER AND TIMES.
The first office was in Peel Street, on the side where the new market shops are - if you look carefully at this photo taken in Peel Street, you can just about make out the words "The Accrington Observer" on the side of the building. At the turn of the century, the paper moved to Edgar Street. This became its home for over 90 years! Mr Crossley died in 1931, he left a thriving business - during the war years they mangaged to continue successfully, the business being continued by the two sons - Richard and Robert. These two brothers died within a few months of each other in 1959, and their two sons carried on - Eric and Harry. In 1963 a big change was introduced, the front page had always been used for adverts, especially cinema adverts - news items now replaced the ads. In 1973 the Tuesday Observer changed to the new tabloid size. By 1980 the decision to switch from hot metal to computerised photo-typesetting was made. In the late 80's the publication date of the paper changed from Saturday to Friday. By now Harry's son Richard, the fourth generation to run the paper, was in charge. Soon it became apparent that as one of the few family owned newspapers left in the country, they were struggling, and so they accepted an offer from the publishers of the Rochdale Observer. They then switched the Friday paper to tabloid format as well. Finally they decided to abandon their Edgar Street premises, and moved to Blackburn Road, where they are still based.
Hope I have got my facts correct here Mr Lampman, please do correct me if necessary.
