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Dartford Times (defunct)

The Dartford Times – in full, the Dartford & Swanley Times incorporating Dartford Express – was a weekly freesheet and paid-for tabloid distributed to homes across the Borough of Dartford in north-western Kent (including the towns of Dartford, Swanley and Hextable), as well as being sold in major retailers and handed out at key locations in Dartford town.

It was founded in 1869 as the Dartford Chronicle, Bexley and Erith Express, etc., changing title to the Dartford Chronicle and District Times in 1889. In 1923 it joined the Kentish Times series as the Dartford Chronicle and Kentish Times, supplementing Dartford with & Crayford in 1946 and then with Crayford & Swanley from 1947 following the closure of the Swanley, Eynsford & Kentish Times. In 1964 it became the Dartford & Swanley Chronicle and Kentish Times.

1985 saw the launch of the Dartford Times and Swanley Times, as the old Chronicle was split up. Both were rebranded as editions of the Kentish Times in 2000 before resuming their existences in 2002; they were merged as the Dartford & Swanley Times in 2004.

It was published by Kentish Times Newspapers, a branch of the Archant London division of media group Archant. The head office was at Kentish Times Newspapers’ headquarters in Sidcup, but there was also an office in Gravesend; the Times was a sister title of the Gravesend Reporter, until being absorbed into that newspaper in January 2011.

It came out on Thursdays.