Tavistock Times Gazette

It’s published by Tavistock Newspapers Ltd and has been owned by the Tindle Newspapers group since 1986, the year in which it started appearing under the present name, but its history goes back much further. As the name suggests, it was formed by the merger of two newspapers. The Tavistock Gazette was the older of the two, founded in 1857 as a broadsheet and published uninterruptedly in that format until 1974. Its rival, the Tavistock Times, was founded 63 years later in 1920, also as a broadsheet but later switching to tabloid format with a brasher approach to the news.

Both competed for readers until in the early 1970s the Times became part of the International Publishing Corporation’s training scheme. The Gazette lacked the ability to cope with the invigorated Times and folded in 1974. But it was relaunched by a local businessman in 1977 as a tabloid. At one point the Gazette looked set to force the Times out of business in its turn; but after the Times underwent two rapid changes of ownership (first to Mirror Group Newspapers and then to West of England Newspapers) and a trimming down of staff numbers, it took over the Gazette in 1983. Both co-existed for three years until merging in 1986 under the present title.

The editorial offices are in Tavistock, and also house the East Cornwall Times and the Okehampton Times.

There’s a sub-edition for Dartmoor: the Princetown & Tavistock Times Gazette.

It comes out on Thursdays. An e-edition’s also available on the website by paid subscription.