Observer Offices to close
 

I've just heard on the grape vine that the Accrington Observer Offices are to close, in the near future, anybody else heard anything:confused:

Accrington Observer offices
 

.. are to shut.

BBC NEWS | England | Manchester | News publisher makes 150 job cuts

So tell me how are we to put in the papers that its julies 21st or mrs smith down the road has died or its jason and andrea's wedding day?

Re: Observer Offices to close
 

Eeew no Jaysay, but if everything would have to be done through the website, then they would have to improve it.

Having said that, found the Manchester office by 'phone/E-mail quite helpful and efficient.

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is that it official now? accrington part of greater manchester:rolleyes:

Re: Accrington Observer offices
 

this was bound to happen after selling out...they keep telling us the observer sales are up evey year,so i think this is just an excuse to make more money pure greed or they have been telling lies...and a lot of companies are jumping on the bandwagon..officially accy will now be known as part of greater manchester.:rolleyes:

Re: Accrington Observer offices
 

Want to expand on that rumour ? :D

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Doubt if Mrs Smith will bother much jen.:D

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Ok you lot ... you know what i mean .. if you want to put an advert in the paper where will you go to put it in? At the minute you go to the office ... but what if you dont have a debit or credit card to pay for it .. you only have cash ... and if you dont have the internet at home?

Re: Accrington Observer offices
 

The Observer, is of course, part of M.E.N. Media, which encompasses lots of local newspapers in the North-West. MEN Media is in turn a subsidiary of the Guardian Media Group. Yep...that's right...the bible of every trendy leftie in the country. (There are even a few of 'em posting on here). Well, however much this rag and its' associated publications may apologise for terrorism and epouse socialism, feminism, anti-racism, islamism, lesbians, gays and grass-roots activism, when it comes to economic hard times, they are just the same bunch of hard nosed capitalist b*$tards as the rest.

Re: Accrington Observer offices
 

Another thread on this Shill, needs putting together.

http://www.accringtonweb.com/forum/f...ose-46109.html

The office on the flip side, don't take a credit card.

The Manchester staff are much more au fait and efficient in the advertisement side in my opinion. Could be difficult for the reporters, where will their base be ?

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Nice one and of course The Guardian doesn't pay proper taxes because it says it's a charity!

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base will probably be one of those crappy takeaways they visit weekly, very fitting to me. the old reporters must be turning in there graves.:rolleyes:

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true what we need is a new political thinking not right or left but communitism:)

Re: Accrington Observer offices
 

Looks like the reporters will be made redundant, yet another nail in Accy's coffin, this town is officially bust, I can't use the words I really want to put.
If anyone wants to lay the blame , much of it can be put down to ridiculous rents and business rates, total lack of advertising and the fact that walking on Broadway is akin to taking your life into your hands,drug dealers, alcoholics, shoplifters, wonky pavements, untreated ice, that's on a good day! Or if you are feeling really brave you could venture up onto Abbey St and feel threatened and intimidated in the environs of what can only be described as Maundyland. (it's like Disneyland except that the horrors are real and not something dreamt up by a Pirates of the Caribbean scriptwriter)
I have lived and worked in Accy all my life I have never been more disillusioned by what I see around me, I had a friend come up from London the other week and found myself apologising for the state of the town. It's a real shame and the council seem oblivious to the real issues.
Sad.

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And where did the 'old' reporters eat then ?

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in their canteen.:)

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Nice to see some retaining their sense of humour, try redundancy, doesn't half take the edge of the laughter.:rolleyes:

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yep and ive been made reduntant 3 times its not good but you have to stay strong if you dont laugh you cry.doesnt mean i dont feel sorry and wouldnt do something if i could .

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no idea, but they did not do a weekly review of em:rolleyes: plus there was none of these grot holes back then, just mainly chippies.

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So I wonder how they will work it then. Advertising can work from Manchester but I would miss our local paper, and the local reporters (even though we have knocked them in the past). All a bit confusing yet. Would they send out reporters from Manchester to cover council meetings, etc., ?

Will there still be an Accrington Observer ?

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Oh no. :(

Another empty shop on Blackburn Road and no office to pop into with photos, competitions etc.

Plus, our local paper compiled by people out of the area. :(

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Pretty much the way I see it too, maybe we will learn more in the Obby on Fri.
Can't see how local sport will be covered either, unless they keep some of the reporters on freelance.

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Whilst people will miss it Lilly, the writings been on the wall with this paper, its been going downhill fer years, i used to deliver observers Tuesdays n Saterdays, me bag weighed a ton on those days, ya gotta ask why as the popularity faded badly.

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You're right. The old Midweek Observer had as much news it it as today's tabloid weekend edition does now.

I'm not having a go, at the paper or the staff, just passing comment. I still love the Observer, and it's still an essential read, and feel very sorry for those who have lost their jobs.

It's rather weird. Just last night I was watching a Money Programme, on either BBC 3 or 4, and it was all about how the printed media is coping with the recession, and the ever changing way in which we expect our news delivered. We want to read news now, as it happens, with full colour moving pictures, all courtesy of the internet. All newspapers circulation is down, and the drop in revenue from advertising, on which many publications rely on for survival, is down by 25%+.

I really hope the Accy Observer manages to survive, and retain some identity as a good local newspaper, though the signs don't look promising.

The days when someone could join a local rag, work hard, and with luck on your side make it big on Fleet Street, which quite a few from the Observer have, seem long past.

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Was that the one with Janet Streeteeth?

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Yeth, it wazzz.:D

Re: Observer Offices to close
 

This is deffo bad news for our town.
Good-bye Accrington Observer your heart has gone forever now :(

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I bet her husband gets nervous in the bedroom :rolleyes::D:D

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I don' think that the reporters will lose their jobs, after all they can still do the same job sat in their own home as they do sat in an office, there's this new phenomia called the ?lets see? oh yes, the Internet:rolleyes: On the advertising front, I have for many years used the phone to place adds and entries in the hatch match and dispatch section and you can pay by CC too, If you want to include a photo, they'll give you an address to send it to, just included a SAE if you want it back. Would imagine by closing the office its cutting overheads, lighting, heating and maintenance

Re: Observer Offices to close
 

As a former employee of the Accrington Observer,I think it is sad that the office will close,but as someone else has said the writing was on the wall.
The fact that the paper has been printed in Chadderton for a number of years
means we have not really had a local paper since the early 90's.

THe Lancashire telegraph will follow the same path.

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"Just last night I was watching a Money Programme" very interesting and Trinity Mirror shares are now 29p

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Yes Wadey,a fall from £6 a share two years ago.A bit worrying when my pension is tied to this!

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'The 150 job losses includes 78 journalists across 23 newspaper titles.'

BBC NEWS | England | Manchester | News publisher makes 150 job cuts

Re: Observer Offices to close
 

thats bad, but not unexpected.

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Generally speaking,I think thatpaid for Newspapers have had there day.With internet and satellite news availability.Who wants yesterdays news?

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The ironic thing is that online newspapers do not pay for themselves, they are subsidised by the money from selling paper copy.

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That's sad Rindi, just wonder how many of the Obs staff it will affect, wonder if Mervin will be put out to grass, I've known him for many years and have a lot of time for him to, was always prepared to listen, its not that long ago that he rang me to see if I'd heard something on he grapevine about a story the Obs were covering.

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I have to say that I love reading the Obs on a Friday morning. I stopped getting the Telegraph about 18 months ago, and now go on line to see whats cooking, although its one of the slowest web sites I've ever come across and it quite regularly jams up on me. don't bother with the Obs web site because it is so poor

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I have to agree ( to a point ) i buy a Sun every day whilst at work (and of course an Observer on a fri), it passes a bit of time and as i`m up at 5.30 the news is pretty up to date although at weekends and days off i read it online instead , going out to buy a copy seems pointless..............

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I think that will continue. Many people don't want to read an online paper on their mobile phone while at work and many do not have internet access at work.

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Although a phone is easier to hide on your way to the toilet of a morning............:rolleyes:

Re: Accrington Observer offices
 

I agree with that Lindsay.

I know that the Observer isnt the paper it once was but i still look forward to reading it every week, certainly much more so than the jellygraph. At least with local reporters it still had its own identity if these go all we can probably look forward to is a North Western Paper with a few pages of our region included in it. Who round here would buy it then...not me for sure. I'm hoping things dont quite come to that, but its not sounding good, hopefully we may know more tomorrow. Imagine life without photos of ...."We're at the Calder today"....oh those demented smiles!!! Even worse thought....we might not see as much of PB!!!...:D


Best Regards - Taggy

Re: Observer Offices to close
 

Posted this earlier on Rossendale Online but as Observer staff are in the same position I thought you may be interested
"The Guardian editor-in-chief, Alan Rusbridger, received salary and benefits of £401,000 in the past financial year.
Rusbridger's salary and benefits package compared with a package of £355,000 for Guardian Media Group's previous financial year.
In the year to the end of March, Rusbridger received a salary of £385,000 and benefits in kind of £16,000, according to GMG's 2008 annual report, published today."

Re: Observer Offices to close
 

Somethings never change Wadey,as I said in an earlier post execs are untouchable(for a while at least.)
During my career I worked printing many local and National papers,it was always the case of them and us,the haves and have nots.
Thank God that's all in the past!

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I think you're right Neil. However if some people switch or stop, will that be enough to kill any margins for the newspapers and be the end anyway?

Not being a political!! I see in the US this has been a big issue as many major titles have gone in a short space of time, many cities down to just one paper o the stand. The famous San Francisco Chronicle went recently.

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Well I've found something I can agree with you on Graham, personally I would hate to see the Observer go out of business, we only really have two local papers the Obs and he Telegraph, I stopped buying the Telegraph quite a while ago, because, after they scraped the Hyndburn edition, I didn't really need to know what goes on in say Rossendale, if I did I'd still get the Free Press. I now have a quick look at the LT on line every day, but get in depth stories in the Observer on Fridays

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There was'nt really an awfull lot of information in this weeks article in the observer, stating that our patch will still be covered by reporters and photographers, does'nt really clear much up, as to whether we are still going to be having a local newspaper, or just a regional one with some local content...i fear the latter!:(

Best Regards - Taggy

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If the paper copy really is paying for the online version as I believe is the case wont both go bump at the same time. Advertising on the online paper sites does not bring in enough money. In some countries online papers are now starting to charge for reading.

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If that's the case Neil it won't be long before we follow suite in this country you bet your life on that

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Oh for the days of "hot metal" when owner Harry Crossley,editor Frank Kitchener and foreman Les Stott would return from their pint in the Blockade Hotel inspect the last page"pull" and declare ,"that's another one put to bed".Then they would b~~~~~ off back to the Blockade leaving us to print the paper,this took anything between 4 and 8 hours depending on which way the mop flopped!

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Where was it printed before the Mirror started making a mess of it?

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Would it be Drake Street Rochdale same as the Free Press?
I'm not certain on this as I lost track of the Obs. after moving on,only to bump into it again some 30 years down the line at the Chadderton site.
As mentioned before the print run used to be hours at the Observer,at the Mirror it was over before you could set the ink or register the image.Hence the 3 D photos.
I think in the early seventies the circulation was 27000 for the weekend edition(Friday night print for Saturday)With a lesser run for the Tuesday tabloid.The tabloid was high tech, we had to use a guillotine to cut the edge of the paper,thus turning a broadsheet into a tabloid.

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Hey, you must have been there at the same time as my father, George Foster, he used to mention all those names!!

On a different track, I would like to speak to any tele sales staff that are being made redundant, maybe we could have a job for them. Please message me

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This all seems really sad. I know that I can't buy a copy now but I do like to check the website out a couple of times a week. From everything that I've read on Accyweb lately, I have visions of tumbleweed blowing down Broadway and not a soul to be seen.

Poor, poor Accy.

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It is sad.

The Observer has always been in Accrington. :(

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did it not used to be printed on school st accy? opposite side from the nags head further down,way back?:confused:

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Yes, at the bottom of the road where the Nags Head is on the opposite side

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The location for the Observer was Edgar Street,The Nags Head was one of the watering holes for the printing staff(manys the tray of beer I carried down the road).Sam Eubank was the licensee.
Yes George was there for a time,didn't he have a shop as well?

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I remember Sam having the Nags Lampman, I think he died well he was still in the pub, I know his wife got a house in George Street Ossy when she came out of the pub

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I am sure that the back doors were on the same street as the Nags Head?
No it was my mother who had the shop not George

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Remember Sam having the nags, quite a few of the "Clippies" used to go in then, i used to pop in on the way to the "Big Crown":)

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Yes Polly you are right the Observer main offices were on Edgar Street with the back door on the same street as the Nags Head.

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The Big Crown, cashy, just before you went upstais next door:rolleyes:

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I'm just about old enough to remember the big Crown, there was a few characters that went in there!!:D

Best Regards - Taggy

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Yea cashy and me did:D

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:rofl38:I dont really need to add anything to that Jaysay!!;)

Best Regards - Taggy