The ''Watford Observer'' is a weekly local newspaper, published 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 ...

. It serves the town of

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

in southwest

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 ...

, as well as the surrounding area. The paper covers local news, politics and sport, including the town's largest football club

Watford FC Watford Football Club is an English professional football club based in Watford, Hertfordshire. They play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club’s original foundation is 1881, aligned with that of its antecede ...

. The ''Watford Observer and General Advertiser for Watford, Bushey and Rickmansworth'' was first published on 24 January 1863 by Samuel Alexander Peacock, the son of John Peackock, a local bookbinder. In the early years of the 20th century it took over a number of other local titles including ''The Watford Leader and West Herts News'' was renamed ''The West Herts and Watford Observer''. Its circulation covered Watford,

Bushey Bushey is a town in the Hertsmere borough of Hertfordshire in the East of England. It has a population of over 25,000 inhabitants. Bushey Heath is a large neighbourhood south east of Bushey on the boundary with the London Borough of Harrow re ...

Rickmansworth Rickmansworth () is a town in southwest Hertfordshire, England, about northwest of central London and inside the perimeter of the M25 motorway. The town is mainly to the north of the Grand Union Canal (formerly the Grand Junction Canal) and t ...

, Harrow,

St Albans St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major ...

Tring Tring is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Dacorum, Hertfordshire, England. It is situated in a gap passing through the Chiltern Hills, classed as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, from Central London. Tring is linked to ...

and

Chesham Chesham (, , or ) is a market town and civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England, south-east of the county town of Aylesbury, north-west of central London, and part of the London commuter belt. It is in the Chess Valley, surrounded by farmla ...

. The newspaper had a weekly circulation of 14,869 in the first six months of 2012. The ''Watford Observer'' also publishes a free paper, appropriately named the ''Watford Free''.

References

Companies based in Watford Newspapers published in Hertfordshire Newspapers published by Newsquest Publications established in 1863 Weekly newspapers published in the United Kingdom 1863 establishments in England {{UK-newspaper-stub