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Archant has been a family-owned business since its inception
165 years ago. Today it is a growing media business and
the leading family-owned independent regional newspaper
group in the UK.
It was in 1845 that Jacob Henry Tillett, Jeremiah Colman,
John Copeman and Thomas Jarrold started the Norwich-based
Norfolk News. The Colman and Copeman families still retain
close involvement in the business.
The Eastern Weekly Press was launched in 1867 and in 1870
was renamed the Eastern Daily Press. A sister title, the
Eastern Evening News was launched in 1882. As the business
grew it moved premises in 1902, 1959 and again in the late
1960s to its present headquarters location at Prospect House
in the centre of Norwich.
At the end of the sixties, Eastern Counties Newspapers began
its corporate expansion with the coming together of ECN
with the East Anglian Daily Times Company to form Eastern
Counties Newspapers Group (ECNG).
ECNG developed further with the launch of Community Media
Limited (CML) in 1981, a weeklies publishing operation based
in Bath which launched and acquired titles in Scotland and
the West Country.
In 1985 ECNG purchased the East Anglia-based Advertiser
group of weekly free newspapers.
ECNG itself grew in 1993 when it bought four weekly newspapers
in Huntingdon, Ely, Wisbech and March from Thomson. The
acquisition of Peterhead-based P Scrogie followed shortly
afterwards.
In April 1998, ECNG bought Home Counties Newspapers Holdings
plc with an agreed bid of approximately £58m. HCNH
published a range of 26 weekly paid and free titles across
Greater London and the Home Counties. The title portfolio
included the Hampstead & Highgate Express, the South
Essex Recorder series, the Herts Advertiser series, the
Comet series, the Herald group and the Welwyn & Hatfield
Times.
Consumer magazine publisher Market Link Publishing, now
Archant Specialist, was acquired by ECNG
for £5m in autumn 1999. Its titles include Photography
Monthly, Professional Photographer, Pilot and Sport Diver.
The launch of a county magazine in Norfolk in 2000 saw the
beginning of what is now Archant Life, the country's biggest
publisher of county magazines. The division was subsequently
given scale through acquisitions and launches in the North West and North East, the
Midlands, East, South West, South and South East of England.
In March 2002, ECNG changed its name to Archant, a move
prompted by the broadening geographic scope and growing
range of its activities.
In December 2003, Archant purchased 27 weekly newspapers
from Independent News and Media in two separate deals worth
up to £62m. The titles included the Islington Gazette,
the East London Advertiser, the Barking & Dagenham Post
and the Kentish Times series.
In early 2005, Archant acquired two magazine publishers
Romsey Publishing Group, which became part of Archant Specialist,
and Highbury Local Publications, which became part of Archant
Life and Archant London.
In summer 2005, Archant Anglia was merged with Archant
Norfolk and the newly created Archant Herts & Cambs,
a division of Archant Regional.
In early 2006, Metropolis Publishing's six London lifestyle
magazine titles were added to the Archant Life stable. They
were quickly joined by six county magazine titles in the
Midlands from Advent Media.
In April 2007, Archant Scotland's eight newspaper titles
were sold to Johnston Press for around £11m.
In February 2008, Archant acquired Compass Magazines and its four monthly regional magazines in Dorset, Hampshire and Surrey.
In September 2009, Archant Print completed an £8m project to bring its press centre in Norwich up to ten printing towers with associated equipment.
In May 2010, Archant launched Cambridge First, a weekly newspaper in Cambridge.
In June 2010, Archant acquired KOS Media Publishing Ltd for an undisclosed sum. KOS Media publishes the award-winning Kent on Sunday, a series of free weekly newspapers, magazines, websites and mobile products.
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