{{italic title The ''Ponteland Observer'' was a weekly newspaper that circulated in the village of Ponteland in

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land on ...

in north-east

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, and later the southern part of the borough of Castle Morpeth as well as some of the north-western suburbs of

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, from 1 October 1982 until 9 January 1986. It was originally owned by Ponteland Observer Ltd, a company belonging to Michael Sharman, its first editor, who was at the same time editor of the '' Hexham Courant'' owned by Cumbrian Newspapers Ltd. Unlike other paid-for weeklies in Northumberland it was a

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, a biplane aircraft * ''Ta ...

and was not part of a larger newspaper group. At that time the only weekly newspaper to pay attention to Ponteland was the 'Ponteland edition' of the Alnwick-based '' Northumberland Gazette''. A circulation of 2000 was claimed by the time Sharman left the ''Courant'' early in 1984, but in May that year he was found dead in his office shortly before his plans to launch a sister title to the ''Observer'' in

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could be brought to fruition; a verdict of suicide was reached. The newspaper was bought by the

Tweeddale Press Group The Tweeddale Press Group is a newspaper and magazine publisher in the Scottish Borders, which has been a subsidiary of the Johnston Press since 2000. History The Berwickshire Advertiser was established in 1808 and moved into premises at 90 Mary ...

, based in Berwick upon Tweed, with effect from 18 May 1984. From 5 July 1984 it became a

broadsheet A broadsheet is the largest newspaper format and is characterized by long Vertical and horizontal, vertical pages, typically of . Other common newspaper formats include the smaller Berliner (format), Berliner and Tabloid (newspaper format), ta ...

newspaper "incorporated with the '' Morpeth Herald''" - meaning that the ''Observer'' was effectively an edition of the ''Herald'', with the front page and some interior pages changed. This arrangement ended formally from the 6 September 1984 edition, but in fact much copy continued to be shared with the ''Herald'', and occasionally with other Tweeddale Press titles, especially the ''Alnwick Advertiser''. At the end of 1985 the Tweeddale Press Group decided that the ''Observer'', with a circulation of just 1200, would never be viable, and decided to close the newspaper and its Ponteland office; the last edition was published on 9 January 1986, after which it was amalgamated with the ''Morpeth Herald'', which until April 2021 still retained "incorporating the ''Ponteland Observer''" on its masthead, despite subsequent changes of editor and ownership.

References

*''Northern Region Newsplan'' https://web.archive.org/web/20060629024833/http://www.nemlac.co.uk/nemlac/resources/NEWSPLAN%20North.pdf *''Ponteland Observer'', 1982-1986 Newspapers published in Northumberland Newspapers established in 1982 Publications disestablished in 1986 Defunct newspapers published in the United Kingdom 1982 establishments in England