Bromley Times

It was founded in 1881 as the Bromley & District Times. After being renamed the Bromley & Kentish Times in 1928, it adopted its present title in 1970. In 1989 it became the Bromley, Beckenham, Chislehurst Times and then spent a decade from 1990 to 2000 as the Bromley & Beckenham Times. It was then briefly an edition of an umbrella Kentish Times until 2002, when it reverted to the Bromley Times.

It’s published by Kentish Times Newspapers, a branch of Archant London (which itself is a division within the Archant media group). The editorial offices were in Sidcup until early August 2011, but have now moved to Archant London’s offices in Ilford.

At some point in the mid-2000s it absorbed another newspaper, the Bromley Express, and up until at least January 2010 it carried the words “incorporating Bromley Express” in its masthead. However, that has now been dropped.

It’s distributed by several different means – besides the door-to-door deliveries, a small number of copies are also available in supermarkets and petrol stations, and more are distributed by handout at Bromley South railway station and the Walnuts Shopping Centre in Orpington. An e-edition’s also available on the website.

Several new sub-editions for hand distribution were launched in late 2009:

• Beckenham Times
• Biggin Hill Times
• Chislehurst Times

However, they appear to have ceased publication in 2011 – links to e-editions remain on the website, but they don’t differ from the main edition after April 2011, and the July 2011 Archant London media pack doesn’t mention them either.

It was relaunched in July 2012 as a tabloid quarter-fold, with little editorial content. The e-edition’s still visible direct from the website, but you have to either register for it or watch an advert first.

It comes out on Thursdays.