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Middleton Guardian

The Middleton Guardian – in full, the Middleton & North Manchester Guardian – is a weekly tabloid newspaper sold in the town of Middleton in the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale, and in northern parts of the City of Manchester, including Blackley (which has its own section within the paper, the Blackley Guardian pages).

It was founded in 1877. It’s undergone a few name-changes since then; in 1966 it became the Middleton & Blackley Guardian, then the Moston, Middleton, Blackley Guardian between 1968 and 1983. For two years Middleton and Moston swapped places in the title, then in 1985 it became simply the Guardian. From 1991 it was the Middleton & North Manchester Guardian, before reverting to its original title in 2010.

It’s published by Greater Manchester Weekly Newspapers, part of MEN Media, which also publishes the Manchester Evening News. MEN Media was itself part of the Guardian Media Group until March 2010, when they sold it to Trinity Mirror.

The editorial offices were collocated with those of the Rochdale Observer until May 2009, when MEN Media centralised all their titles’ editorial operations in central Manchester. Following the Trinity Mirror takeover, all titles shifted production to Chadderton on the outskirts of Oldham.

Its companion freesheet, the North and East Manchester Advertiser, became a paid-for title in August 2011, but ceased publication about a year later.

It no longer has its own website; most of MEN Media’s papers now share the Evening News‘s website.

It comes out on Thursdays.

  • Address:
  • Middleton Guardian
    Mitchell Henry House
    Hollinwood Avenue
    Chadderton
    OLDHAM
    OL9 8EF
  • Tel:
  • 0161 211 2807
  • Fax:
  • 0161 653 9968