Back in April 2020, we suggested that the Denbighshire Free Press was down to a pre-virus circulation of about about 3,600 per week (a pure estimate, of course). The virus would've also taken its toll, as few of us ventured outside, other than for limited and very essential trips. The local rag was probably then very much a discretionary purchase.
Meanwhile, the DFP website front page leads with the best deals you can expect at local discounter supermarkets; shipping disruption for Christmas furniture deliveries; a safety warning to return supermarket products; the two North Wales hotels in The Times' top 100 (one in Conwy and one in Gwynedd); and a story on Wrexham women's football kits.
As for the article no. 16 on the 'Deliveroo Effect' adding £36,000 to the value of your home, that will disappoint all those in the Free Press' area: we simply cannot benefit from it. Presumably, if the story's true (and, is it, really?) we're now all £36,000 worse off. The story's by Newsquest's 'UK trending editor' which in itself is interesting, as it first appeared (elsewhere) in July... it's taken Newsquest three months to catch up. So much for trending.
We wonder what the circulation is now. We'd speculate it'll be around no more than 2,800, possibly less, by the end of the year. Facebook is now our main source of (often distorted) news, and advertisers no longer feel the need to use the Free Press.
Meanwhile, the Free Press website rather than the print edition is where people will tend to go if they want 'proper' local journalism (basically, re-packaged press releases, if you're cynical).
Yet, the website isn't great, either. I notice that today, for example, only five of the top 20 most read articles are relevant to the Free Press area. The top one, 'Dogs, Toddlers, Burns Night and More' is actually a look back through the photo archive and, no matter how interesting this is, it's hardly what you might call 'news'.
There's only one local news story and the geography of it is pushing the territory beyond the Llangollen-Rhuthun/Ruthin-Denbigh core area: a crash on the A55 near St Asaph Business Park.
'We're not there yet'... enter Rhuthun within Deliveroo and this is what you get
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