The ''Lancashire Telegraph'', formerly the ''Lancashire Evening Telegraph'', is a local
tabloid
Tabloid may refer to:
* Tabloid journalism, a type of journalism
* Tabloid (newspaper format), a newspaper with compact page size
** Chinese tabloid
* Tabloid (paper size), a North American paper size
* Sopwith Tabloid
The Sopwith Tabloid an ...
newspaper distributed in East
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly.
The non-metropolitan county of Lancas ...
, England. It is edited by Karl Holbrook. There are around twenty towns in the area, including
Blackburn
Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the Ribble Valley, east of Preston and north-n ...
,
Burnley
Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Br ...
,
Accrington
Accrington is a town in the Hyndburn borough of Lancashire, England. It lies about east of Blackburn, west of Burnley, east of Preston, north of Manchester and is situated on the culverted River Hyndburn. Commonly abbreviated by locals to ...
Colne
Colne () is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Pendle in Lancashire, England. Located northeast of Nelson, north-east of Burnley, east of Preston and west of Leeds.
The town should not be confused with the unrelated Colne ...
, and Rawtenstall.
The editor is Karl Holbrook, who is also the group editor of Newsquest's newspaper brands across Lancashire and Greater Manchester, including The Bolton News, Bury Times, The Oldham Times and Salford City News. The newspapers are owned by
Newsquest
Newsquest Media Group Ltd. is the second largest publisher of regional and local newspapers in the United Kingdom. It is owned by the American mass media holding company Gannett. It has 205 brands across the UK, publishing online and in print ...
, a division of
Gannett
Gannett Co., Inc. () is an American mass media holding company headquartered in McLean, Virginia, in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.ha’penny. 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 or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, 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
In offset printing, a spot color or solid color is any color generated by an ink (pure or mixed) that is printed using a ''single run'', whereas a process color is produced by printing a series of dots of different colors.
The widespread offset ...
introduced on 25 January 1965, and colour in
classified advertising
Classified advertising is a form of advertising, particularly common in newspapers, online and other periodicals, which may be sold or distributed free of charge. Classified advertisements are much cheaper than larger display advertisements used ...
following on 19 March 1965. In 1982, it moved to the south side of High Street, which marked the introduction of new computerised technology.
The new offices were built on part of the Dutton's brewery site; the old offices were demolished, and after the remainder of the brewery closed in the mid 1980s, the supermarket (
Morrisons
Wm Morrison Supermarkets, trading as Morrisons, is the fifth largest supermarket chain in the United Kingdom. As of 2021, the company had 497 supermarkets across England, Wales and Scotland, as well as one in Gibraltar. The company is headq ...
) was built on the site. In 1995, the Lancashire Evening Telegraph became the first regional newspaper in Britain to put daily, updated news on the internet.
In February 2006, in order to cut costs, the company announced it was to close its district offices in the Lancashire towns of
Burnley
Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Br ...
,
Accrington
Accrington is a town in the Hyndburn borough of Lancashire, England. It lies about east of Blackburn, west of Burnley, east of Preston, north of Manchester and is situated on the culverted River Hyndburn. Commonly abbreviated by locals to ...
and Darwen. 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. It was ''North West: Newspaper of the Year'' in the How Do! Awards, 2011.
In March 2017, the newspaper moved to Church Street, and the offices on High Street were converted into apartments.