The ''Kentish Gazette'' is a weekly newspaper serving the city of

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

. It is owned by

KM Group KM Media Group is a multimedia company in the county of Kent, England which originated as the publisher of the Kent Messenger. The Group now produces local newspapers, radio stations and websites throughout the county. Iliffe Media acquired KM ...

and published on Thursdays. It's Canterbury and Whitstable editions are the only local papers covering that area.

History

The newspaper claims to be the second oldest surviving newspaper in the United Kingdom. It was founded by James Simmons in 1768 and, after a few weeks' competition, merged with its older rival,

George Kirkby George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presiden ...

's ''

Kentish Post ''The Kentish Post: or the Canterbury News-Letter'', Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on th ...

'' which had been founded in 1717 and was the 28th known regional newspaper to be produced.R. M. Wiles, ''Freshest advices : early provincial newspapers in England'', Ohio State University Press, 1965, p. 397. The merged paper continued in existence as the ''Kentish Gazette'' under the joint management of Simmons and Kirkby.David J. Shaw and Sarah Gray, ‘James Abree (1691? – 1768) : Canterbury’s first "modern" printer’, in: ''The Reach of print : Making, selling and reading books'', ed. P. Isaac and B. McKay, Winchester, St Paul’s Bibliographies, 1998. Pp. 21–36. In 1942 the Gazette's offices in Canterbury were destroyed by a

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

raid on the city. The paper was able to use the ''

Kent Messenger The ''Kent Messenger'' is a weekly newspaper serving the mid-Kent area. It is published in three editions - Maidstone, Malling, and the Weald. It is owned by the KM Group and is published on Thursdays. History The ''Kent Messenger'' grew from ...

's'' offices in

Maidstone Maidstone is the largest Town status in the United Kingdom, town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies 32 miles (51 km) east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the c ...

to produce that week's copy of the newspaper. The Gazette, through a number of mergers and acquisitions, took control of other newspapers in the area such as the ''

Whitstable Gazette Whitstable () is a town on the north coast of Kent adjoining the convergence of the Swale Estuary and the Greater Thames Estuary in southeastern England, north of Canterbury and west of Herne Bay. The 2011 Census reported a population of 3 ...

'', ''

Herne Bay Gazette Herne may refer to: Places Australia * Herne Hill, Victoria * Herne Hill, Western Australia, a suburb of Perth * Riverwood, New South Wales, formerly known as Herne Bay England * Herne, Kent, near the town of Herne Bay * Herne Bay, seaside tow ...

'' and '' East Kent Mercury'', all of which were owned by Kent County Newspapers. KCN was taken over by the Kent Messenger Group in 1980. Along with the rest of the KM-owned papers, the ''Gazette'' was given a design overhaul in May 2005. Kentish Gazette (1).JPG, Masthead, 1768 Kentish Gazette (6).JPG, The Invicta, 1850 Kentish Gazette (7).JPG, Advertisement, 1876

Offices

Until 2008, the ''Kentish Gazette'' was based in Canterbury's city centre, sharing office space with its sister radio station

KMFM Canterbury KMFM Canterbury is an Independent Local Radio serving the City of Canterbury and the surrounding areas in Kent, South East England. It is the Canterbury region of the KMFM radio network (owned by the KM Group), containing local advertisements ...

. The demands of a radio station and a newspaper were becoming too big for the building, so in September 2008 the ''Gazette'' and the sales team for KMFM Canterbury were moved to a newly built office building just outside Whitstable.

Circulation

The paper's circulation as of the first half of 2009 is 14,571. This represented a drop of 12.8% against the same time the previous year.

References

External links

''Kentish Gazette'' homepage
{{Authority control KM Group newspapers Newspapers published in Kent Publications established in 1768 Culture in Canterbury Weekly newspapers published in the United Kingdom 1768 establishments in England