Packet Newspapers (Cornwall) Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of the

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 ...

media group, which publishes the ''Packet'' series of weekly tabloid

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...

s. The series is named after the Falmouth Packet service, which commenced operation in about 1688.

Circulation

Weekly circulation for all ''Packet'' titles was 39,350 as of 27 February 2013, 32% greater than that of their regional rival,

Northcliffe Media Northcliffe Media Ltd. (formerly Northcliffe Newspapers Group) was a large regional newspaper publisher in the UK and Central and Eastern Europe, owned by Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT). In 2012, the company was sold by DMGT to a newly formed ...

The West Briton ''The West Briton'' is a local weekly newspaper published every Thursday. It serves various areas of Cornwall in the United Kingdom: there are four separate editions – Truro and mid-Cornwall; Falmouth and Penryn; Redruth, Camborne and Hayle; ...

, which had a circulation of 29,710 on the same date.

The ''Falmouth & Penryn Packet''

The ''Falmouth & Penryn Packet'' is a weekly tabloid newspaper sold in and around the towns of Falmouth and Penryn on the southern coast of western

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

. Several newspapers have borne the title ''Falmouth Packet'' in the past. The earliest, founded in 1801, was the ''Cornwall Gazette & Falmouth Packet'', which lasted under that title for less than two years when the proprietor, one

Thomas Flindell Thomas Flindell (1767 – 11 July 1824), was an English newspaper editor and printer. Background Flindell was born in 1767 at Helford, in the parish of Manaccan, Cornwall, and was, to use his own words, 'bred an illiterate half-seaman.' He was ap ...

(1767-1824), was imprisoned for debt. It was the first Cornish newspaper. In 1803 Flindell moved his operations to

Truro Truro (; kw, Truru) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Cornwall, England. It is Cornwall's county town, sole city and centre for administration, leisure and retail trading. Its ...

and started the ''Royal Cornwall Gazette and Western Advertiser,'' which ultimately was absorbed into

following a bitter feud between the two publications. The second ''Falmouth Packet'' was the ''Falmouth Packet & Cornish Herald'', founded in 1829 and published until 1848. The third, ''Lake's Falmouth Packet & Cornwall Advertiser'', is the ancestor of the present-day ''Falmouth & Penryn Packet''; it started publication in 1858. The current ''Falmouth & Penryn Packet'' is the lead title in a series of ''Packet'' weekly paid-for tabloids for central and western

The ''Helston Packet''

The ''Helston Packet'' is a weekly tabloid newspaper sold in and around the town of

Helston Helston ( kw, Hellys) is a town and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated at the northern end of the Lizard Peninsula approximately east of Penzance and south-west of Falmouth.Ordnance Survey: Landranger map shee ...

in southern

, including

Porthleven Porthleven () is a town, civil parish and fishing port near Helston, Cornwall, England. The most southerly port in Great Britain, it was a harbour of refuge when this part of the Cornish coastline was infamous for wrecks in the days of sail. The ...

Mullion A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid supp ...

and

The Lizard The Lizard ( kw, An Lysardh) is a peninsula in southern Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The most southerly point of the British mainland is near Lizard Point at SW 701115; Lizard village, also known as The Lizard, is the most southerl ...

peninsula. It was first published in 1969. All ''Packet'' titles are published by Packet Newspapers from editorial offices in Falmouth.

Website

All the ''Packet'' titles, plus the closely associated ''Helston & District Gazette'', share a common website
www.thepacket.co.uk

Company history

Packet Newspapers used to be part of the

Express Newspapers Northern & Shell (holding company name Northern and Shell Network Ltd) is a British publishing group, founded in December 1974 and owned since then by Richard Desmond. Formerly a publisher of pornographic magazines including '' Penthouse'' and ' ...

group (and, before that, its predecessor Beaverbrook Newspapers), but as of 1987 is a subsidiary of the

newspaper group's South West division. There are currently (February 2013) four ''Packets'' - ''The Falmouth/Penryn Packet'', ''The Helston Packet'', ''The West Cornwall Packet'', and ''The Packet'' (covering Truro, Camborne and Redruth); in 2010 the ''

Penwith Penwith (; kw, Pennwydh) is an area of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, located on the peninsula of the same name. It is also the name of a former Non-metropolitan district, local government district, whose council was based in Penzance. ...

Pirate'' was replaced by the ''West Cornwall Packet''. They all come out on Wednesdays.

Circulation

The ''Falmouth & Penryn Packet''

The ''Helston Packet''

Website

Company history

References

See also