Torquay Herald Express

The Herald Express is South West Media Group's Torquay-based newspaper. It serves a wide surrounding area of coastal and inland communities in South Devon which attracts millions of tourists each year to swell its 100,000-plus resident population.

The Herald express was born out of the rivalry between two evening papers, each of which produced local editions for Torbay - an area which includes Torquay, Paignton and Brixham - and first appeared in its own right as a title on Monday, July 13, 1925, when the two sensibly decided to amalgamate.

Devon's premier publishing centres had always been at Plymouth - where Sir Leicester Harmsworth, brother of newspaper baron Lord Northcliffe, controlled the city's Evening Herald - and at Exeter - where Sir James Owen had the country's other evening title, the Express and Echo.

First into Torquay had been the Exeter-sponsored Torbay express and South Devon Echo in 1921, followed shortly afterwards by the Plymouth-controlled Torbay Herald. The latter was produced in Braddons Hill Road, the former nearby in Union Street.

The competition was intense and Torquay of the day clearly did not have the commercial output to support two evening titles. Eventually the papers merged, Harmsworth having acquired his rival, to become the "Torbay Herald and Express", and printed in Braddons Hill Road. Later this was simplified to "Herald Express".

It has had the distinction of being based in Fleet Street, for the front entrance and office to the Braddons Hill works was located close-by in Torquay's main shopping thoroughfare.

It was not until July 1980 that the paper moved to custom-built headquarters on the northern edge of the town. Throughout the years since its founding, the Herald Express has been closely linked with its Exeter sister paper within the Western Times Company and the Northcliffe Group. However, in 1991 it became a new and independent operating company in its own right within Northcliffe as Herald Express Publications Ltd. During its lifetime it has had eight editors, including the present incumbent, Andy Phelan.

In March 1996, Northcliffe Newspapers Group restructured its publishing interests in the South West of England. The restructure saw the appointment of a new regional management team to direct the operations of Northcliffe's daily newspaper centres at Plymouth, Exeter and Torquay.

Following many changes in the structure of the Torquay operation, the Herald Express printing press was closed in November 1996. The head office in Barton Hill Road retained its existing editorial, advertising and newspaper sales departments, but from then on the paper was to be printed at the Western Morning News building in Plymouth.