Wanstead & Woodford Guardian

It’s published by Newsquest (London) Ltd from their office in Epping, which it shares with the rest of the East London and West Essex Guardian series that dates back to 1876. The other titles are the Waltham Forest Guardian, the Epping Forest Guardian and, since June 2011, the Chingford Guardian.

The Guardian series first carried a Woodford title in 1943 with the Woodford, Loughton & Buckhurst Hill Guardian. Wanstead received its first mention in 1952, when the series was simply called The Guardian and had a [takes deep breath] Wanstead, Woodford, Loughton & Buckhurst Hill edition. 1960 saw the first use of the present title, but only until 1967. It then disappeared from view until a partial resurfacing as a local edition of the Redbridge Guardian and Independent in 1972, then the Redbridge Guardian in 1981. From 1987 to 1995 it was the Wanstead-Woodford Redbridge Guardian before resuming its current name.

During the course of 2011, the Guardian – which had been entirely paid-for as recently as 2009 – shifted its distribution model to the point where the majority of copies were available by free pick-up through supermarkets.

It comes out on Thursdays. An e-edition is also available free on the website (and by email, if you register for it).