The Lancashire Telegraph, formerly the Lancashire Evening Telegraph, is a local tabloid newspaper distributed in East Lancashire

Lancashire

Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...

, England. It has two separate geographic editions each day – one for the boroughs of Blackburn with Darwen

Blackburn with Darwen

Blackburn with Darwen is a unitary authority area in Lancashire, North West England. It consists of Blackburn, the small town of Darwen to the south of it, and the surrounding countryside.-Formation:...

, Hyndburn

Hyndburn

Hyndburn is a local government district with borough status in Lancashire, England. Its council is based in Accrington. The district is named after the River Hyndburn....

 and Ribble Valley

Ribble Valley

Ribble Valley is a local government district with borough status within the non-metropolitan county of Lancashire, England. Its council is based in Clitheroe. Other places include Whalley, Longridge and Ribchester. The area is so called due to the River Ribble which flows in its final stages...

, and one for Burnley

Burnley

Burnley is a market town in the Burnley borough of Lancashire, England, with a population of around 73,500. It lies north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Brun....

, Pendle

Pendle

Pendle is a local government district and borough of Lancashire, England. It adjoins the Lancashire boroughs of Burnley and Ribble Valley, the North Yorkshire district of Craven and the West Yorkshire districts of Calderdale and the City of Bradford...

, and Rossendale

Rossendale

Rossendale is a local government district with borough status. It is made up of a number of small former mill towns in Lancashire, England centered around the valley of the River Irwell in the industrial North West...

. The main towns in the area are Blackburn, Burnley

Burnley

Burnley is a market town in the Burnley borough of Lancashire, England, with a population of around 73,500. It lies north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Brun....

, Accrington

Accrington

Accrington is a town in Lancashire, within the borough of Hyndburn. It lies about east of Blackburn, west of Burnley, north of Manchester city centre and is situated on the mostly culverted River Hyndburn...

, Darwen

Darwen

Darwen is a market town and civil parish located within Lancashire, England. Along with its northerly neighbour, Blackburn, it forms the Borough of Blackburn with Darwen — a unitary authority area...

, Nelson

Nelson, Lancashire

Nelson is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Pendle in Lancashire, England, with a population of 28,998 in 2001. It lies 4 miles north of Burnley on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal....

, Clitheroe

Clitheroe

Clitheroe is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Ribble Valley in Lancashire, England. It is 1½ miles from the Forest of Bowland and is often used as a base for tourists in the area. It has a population of 14,697...

, Colne

Colne

Colne is the second largest town and civil parish in the Borough of Pendle in Lancashire, England, with a population of 20,118. It lies at the eastern end of the M65, 6 miles north-east of Burnley, with Nelson immediately adjacent, in the Aire Gap with two main roads leading into the Yorkshire...

, Rawtenstall and Ramsbottom.

The editor is Kevin Young who is also the group editor of the weekly paid-for Westmorland Gazette in Kendal. The deputy editor of the Lancashire Telegraph is Alan Simpson and the web editor is Paul Cockerton.

It is owned by Newsquest

Newsquest

Newsquest is the third largest publisher of regional and local newspapers in the United Kingdom with 300 titles in its portfolio. Newsquest is based in Weybridge, Surrey and employs a total of more than 5,500 people across the UK...

, a division of the US firm Gannett.

History

The newspaper was founded by Thomas Purvis Ritzema, a young newspaper manager, who purchased two shops at 19 and 21 Railway Road, Blackburn, for the launch of his venture. The first copy appeared on the streets on 26 October 1886 and sold for a ha’penny (1.2p). It was known then as the Northern Daily Telegraph and it was the first evening newspaper to be published in East Lancashire. In 1894 the head office was moved to the corner site of Railway Road and High Street.

From 7 September 1939 soon after the start of World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, advertisements gave way to news on the front page. On 10 December 1956 it changed its title to the Northern Evening Telegraph and on 2 September 1963 the name changed again to Lancashire Evening Telegraph. The newspaper used full colour for the first time on 11 November 1963 with spot colour introduced on 25 January 1965 and colour in classified advertising

Classified advertising

Classified advertising is a form of advertising which is particularly common in newspapers, online and other periodicals which may be sold or distributed free of charge...

following on 19 March 1965. In 1982 it moved to its present head office in the High Street, which marked the introduction of new computerised technology.

In 1995 it became the first regional newspaper in Britain to put daily, updated news on the internet. The newspaper's district offices in the Lancashire towns of Burnley, Accrington and Darwen were closed down in February 2006 to cut costs. On 17 July 2006 the newspaper changed its name to the Lancashire Telegraph as it switched to overnight printing in order to distribute copies in the morning