Stone Leisure

History

The company was founded several years earlier in April 1965 by Bob Griffiths, as Stone Industrial Publications Limited. It changed direction in the 1970s and started to publish a number of magazines and organise shows on the theme of outdoor leisure. It changed its name in 1991.

In September 2006 it launched the Bexleyheath Chronicle and the Sidcup Chronicle in the London Borough of Bexley. Initially it was planned to distribute the newspapers to households via Royal Mail, but that plan was abandoned before launch. It was however sold through newsagents, as well as being available through pickup points. Hopes for an eventual shift to weekly publication likewise never came to fruition.

The series expanded over the following months to cover Crayford, Erith and Thamesmead in Bexley, as well as Dartford and Swanley across the county boundary in North West Kent.

In October 2010 a monthly freesheet newspaper with a very similar format was launched for the Long Eaton area, just south-west of Nottingham, the Long Eaton & District Chronicle.

Recent developments

Economic difficulties forced Stone Leisure to abandon publication of the Bexley Chronicle series in September 2012. The company is still led by Bob Griffiths, now well into his seventies, and continues to publish the Long Eaton Chronicle, as well as its leisure magazine Motorhome and Campervan Magazine.

Stone Leisure Limited’s newspapers listed alphabetically