The ''Cambridge News'' (formerly the ''Cambridge Evening News'') is a British daily newspaper. Published each weekday and on Saturdays, it is distributed from its

Waterbeach Waterbeach is an expanding village north of Cambridge on the edge of The Fens, in the South Cambridgeshire district of Cambridgeshire, England. It was designated a "new town" in 2018. History Early periods Waterbeach is on the Car Dyke, a Rom ...

base. In the period December 2010 – June 2011 it had an average daily circulation of 20,987, but by December 2016 this had fallen to around 13,000. In 2018, the circulation of the newspaper fell to 8,005 and by June 2022 the preceding 6-month average was 3,552 readers per issue.

History

The paper was founded by William Farrow Taylor as the ''Cambridge Daily News'' in 1888, and after a slow start saw sales rise as an appetite for knowledge of the news and sport grew among the

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

public. As its following steadily grew, the fledgling paper survived the need for modernisation in the early twentieth century (Captain Archibald Taylor, son of the founder, was the first managing director to introduce a standard typeface during this time, for example), the uncertain economic climate during the 1920s and 1930s and the printing shortages of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. In the 1920s the Taylors sold the paper to the Iliffe family, who sold it in 1938 and then reacquired it in 1959, moving it to a larger premises on Newmarket Road: they continued to turn the paper into a profit-making business under the new name of the ''Cambridge Evening News'', starting in 1969. The headquarters moved from Newmarket Road to Milton in 1997. In 2012,

Local World Local World Holdings Ltd. was a large regional newspaper publisher in the UK that published around 100 print titles and more than 70 websites. It was formed in 2012 by David Montgomery, a former chief executive of Trinity Mirror, to buy the Dai ...

acquired the title from

Yattendon Group Yattendon Group plc (formerly Yattendon Investment Trust) is a British-based private company owned by the Iliffe family. It has interests in Vancouver, Seattle, agriculture, marinas and local newspaper printing and publishing. Property Yattendo ...

. In 2007, the paper started publishing an early morning "Sunrise" edition titled simply ''Cambridge News'', as well as the afternoon edition. The evening edition was stopped the following year, and ''Evening'' was removed from the paper's title. The ''Cambridge News'' had eight sister papers with a more local circulation as part of the Weekly News series:

, Ely,

Huntingdon Huntingdon is a market town in the Huntingdonshire district in Cambridgeshire, England. The town was given its town charter by King John in 1205. It was the county town of the historic county of Huntingdonshire. Oliver Cromwell was born there ...

, St Ives and

St Neots St NeotsPronunciation of the town name: Most commonly, but variations that ''saint'' is said as in most English non-georeferencing speech, the ''t'' is by a small minority of the British pronounced and higher traces of in the final syllable ...

(all in

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...

), Haverhill and Newmarket (in

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

), Royston (in

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

) and

Saffron Walden Saffron Walden is a market town in the Uttlesford district of Essex, England, north of Bishop's Stortford, south of Cambridge and north of London. It retains a rural appearance and some buildings of the medieval period. The population was 15, ...

(in

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

). Until 2002 the

edition was titled ''St Neots Evening News'' and the

& St Ives edition ''Huntingdon and St Ives Evening News'' for around three years, before reverting to their original names. The paper is also active in local community campaigns such as its long running 'Action on the A14' campaign which demands action be taken on the dangerous road that bisects the paper's readership area, and also sponsors numerous local events such as the Village & Community Magazine Awards and the annual Business Excellence Awards, while running its own Community Awards to recognise readers who have made a difference in the area. The editor from February 2008 until April 2016 was Paul Brackley. David Bartlett was appointed editor in June 2016. On Saturday 13 September 2014, the newspaper was relaunched with a new design, alongside daily paid-for regional editions Hunts News, Royston News and Walden News replacing the free weekly publications. The 6 December 2017 edition of ''Cambridge News'' was noted for a printing error on the front page. The newspaper went to print with a main

headline The headline or heading is the text indicating the content or nature of the article below it, typically by providing a form of brief summary of its contents. The large type ''front page headline'' did not come into use until the late 19th centur ...

consisting of

placeholder text Filler text (also placeholder text or dummy text) is text that shares some characteristics of a real written text, but is random or otherwise generated. It may be used to display a sample of fonts, generate text for testing, or to spoof an e- ...

which read "100PT SPLASH HEADING HERE" instead of the intended news story, followed by more filler text contained in a

strapline Advertising slogans are short phrases used in advertising campaigns to generate publicity and unify a company's marketing strategy. The phrases may be used to attract attention to a distinctive product feature or reinforce a company's brand. Etym ...

. After images of the cover spread virally on

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...

, the editor-in-chief apologised to readers and blamed a technical error in the publishing process.

Awards

The paper won Regional Newspaper of the Year at The Newspaper Awards held in 2009 and 2013. This award was part sponsored by its own parent organisation.

Online media

''Cambridge News'' publishes most of its news online via its website. The site can be viewed for free and without registration although the e-edition of the newspaper is behind a

paywall A paywall is a method of restricting access to content, with a purchase or a paid subscription, especially news. Beginning in the mid-2010s, newspapers started implementing paywalls on their websites as a way to increase revenue after years of ...

References

External links

Cambridge News Online

Iliffe Print Cambridge
{{UK regional daily newspapers Mass media in Cambridge Newspapers published in Cambridgeshire Publications established in 1888 Daily newspapers published in the United Kingdom