Websites included on the trial will ask users to pay £5 for a three-month subscription, or alternatively, readers are invited to simply buy the newspaper.

The move follows News Corporation owner Rupert Murdoch's announcement in August that his companies would charge for access to web-based news stories within 12 months.

At this stage, the trial, which includes the Worksop Guardian, the Ripley & Heanor News, the Whitby Gazette, the Northumberland Gazette, the Carrick Gazette and the Southern Reporter, is an information-gathering exercise rather than a model of how the company would go forward, according to Johnston Press.

A spokesman for the company said: "It is intended that the trial will last for three months and is expected to give Johnston Press important insight into its consumers’ preferences, enabling the company to better understand the relationship between its print and online products. There are no current plans to place further titles behind a pay wall."