Bedford Borough Times & Citizen

Its roots lie in the Bedfordshire Times, which was first published in 1845 as the Bedford Times and was the first newspaper regularly published for the county; in 1859 it merged with a rival founded just two years earlier, the Bedfordshire Independent, and was published as the Bedford Times and Bedfordshire Independent until 1872, when it became the Bedfordshire Times and Independent. Another merger took place on the eve of the Second World War in July 1939, with the 1883-founded Bedfordshire Standard, forming the unnecessarily lengthy The Bedfordshire Times and Bedfordshire Standard before becoming simply the Bedfordshire Times in 1965. The Times merged with another local title, the Bedford Citizen, in 1995.

It’s now published by Premier Newspapers Ltd, a branch of regional newspaper giant Johnston Press‘s Midlands division, and is one of two titles in their Bedfordshire Times & Citizen group along with the Mid Beds Times & Citizen. The editorial offices are in Bedford.

Although it’s a freesheet, a tiny fraction of the print run is sold through the news trade.

It comes out on Thursdays.