Western Gazette

It was founded in 1863. In its heyday in the early twentieth century it had a circulation area that covered the whole of Somerset and Dorset and ran into Hampshire, Wiltshire and even Berkshire!

It’s published by the Western Gazette Co. Ltd, part of Northcliffe Media, which was the regional newspaper publishing division of the Daily Mail & General Trust until the end of 2012, when it became part of the new Local World group. It’s based in Yeovil.

There was a major shake-up at the end of February 2009 when, of the previous 11 sub-editions, nine (each with fewer than a thousand copies sold every week) were slimmed down to four. The editions lost were:

• Blandford & Sturminster Newton
• Gillingham & Shaftesbury
• Dorchester & Weymouth
• Bridport, Beaminster & Lyme Regis
• Crewkerne & Villages
• Chard & Ilminster
• Castle Cary, Bruton, Wincanton
• Somerton & Langport
• Street, Glastonbury & Mendips

From March 2009 onwards the following editions replaced them:

• Crewkerne & Chard
• South Somerset
• North Dorset
• West Dorset

The Yeovil & District edition (by far the largest) and the Sherborne edition were unaffected by the shakeup.

By 2012 the number of editions had been reduced to five:

• Crewkerne
• Sherborne
• Somerton & Langport
• Wincanton, Castle Cary & Bruton
• Yeovil

In 2011 the Gazette lost its own separate website; the old URL at westgaz.co.uk was redirected to Northcliffe’s thisisdorset.co.uk website. It regained its own website in 2013 – albeit at a new URL – in line with Local World’s decision to give all its titles their own “publisher-branded” websites.

It comes out on Thursdays.