Staff at Harmsworth Bristol in consultation as site closure proposed

17 April 2009

Business

Newspaper printer Harmsworth Printing has entered into consultation with 88 staff after unveiling plans to close another of its sites.

The Didcot-headquartered business has entered into a 30-day consultation with its employees at Harmsworth Printing Bristol, which prints titles including the Bristol Evening Post.

It is the latest in a number of closures at the DMGT-owned local newspaper printer. At the end of this month, Harmsworth Printing Leicester will close, just a few months after Harmsworth Printing Grimsby closed its doors.

A spokesman for Harmsworth Printing confirmed that employees were told of the consultation last night (16 April). He added: "If the decision is made, there are options for the titles, obviously we have Didcot just up the M4 corridor."

Steve Sibbald, national officer at Unite, said: "This has a certain stench of inevitability about it, but we are going through the process.

"We can only speculate where the titles will move to now, if they continue them at all. I was told recently that 60 regional titles have closed in the last year.

"You only have to look at the States to see where it is going. Take Seattle as an example, a huge city and its local journalism has gone web only."

The newspaper printing industry continues to face turbulent times, with a large number of jobs being lost over the past 18 months across a number of manufacturers.

The sector is challenged by over-capacity, coupled with dwindling newspaper circulation, and experts believe that many of the UK's small facilities will be forced to close due to newspaper supersites built in the last five years.