Heartland History
THE Heartland Evening News was the brainchild of a former apprentice printer at the Evening Tribune in Nuneaton, Peter Young who had gone on to bigger things in the industry.
Amid a lot of television publicity the local paper for more than 100 years the Evening Tribune made more than 90 people redundant in order to go weekly.
Peter Young heard about this and wondered if there was a way to keep a daily paper in Nuneaton, Bedworth, Hinckley and North Warwickshire.
He contacted a former work colleague, Tony Parratt, who was asked to take a team of potential staff to a local pub to talk about the possible launch of another daily paper for the town.
This was in late 1991. By March 16, 1992 a small office on an industrial estate saw the first ever Evening News put together. Later the title was renamed The Heartland Evening News.
The paper has evolved over the years taking on and beating stiff competition from the big city rivals around Nuneaton, eventually becoming number one for local readers.
In mid-2006 a meeting was called, and chairman Peter Young broke the news that Yattendon Investment Trust (YIT) plc, whose Burton Mail press already printed the News, had made an offer for the paper. YIT wanted to add it to their growing portfolio in the Staffordshire Newspapers titles.
The offer was duly accepted by all that had invested in the original company and the News became part of a major player in the media set-up of the UK.
