From broadsheet to tabloid – readers loved the new-look News | Nostalgia
I am sure many can remember when The News (then The Evening News) was printed in tabloid format – before 1969.
When the plant in Stanhope Road, Landport, closed and the presses at The News Centre, Hilsea, started rolling, this paper was a broadsheet. It had been a tabloid since the war years.
years. The last broadsheet was printed on Saturday, May 8, and the following Monday the tabloid version was printed with eight editions a day. Then editor Geoff Elliott said it was as plain as a pikestaff that a tabloid should return.
Two dummy editions were produced to test readers’ reaction. There was a 40-page Tuesday paper and a 96-page issue on Fridays. It was met with great approval from those who were shown secret dummy editions and the board of Portsmouth & Sunderland Newspapers agreed the new-look paper. A £250,000 promotions budget ensured canvassing of 176,000 homes over 30 weeks.
The new tabloid version was a success winning national and regional awards including Regional Newspaper of the Year in 1995.
At the time The News returned to a tabloid format the editor was Geoff Elliott. He ran the newspaper from 1990 until 1999.
After leaving The News Geoff went north to be head of journalism at a university.
He retired at the age of 58, moving first from Lancashire to Devon and then in 2010, back to Portsmouth.
He now lives in southern France for nearly half the year.