Carrick Times
The Carrick Times is a weekly newspaper serving Carrickfergus and East Antrim in Northern Ireland. Established in 1891 and published by National World, it is one of the oldest local newspapers in the province, covering sport, culture, entertainment and local news for communities along the Antrim coast.
Overview
The Carrick Times is a local weekly newspaper based in Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland, established in 1891. Published in English in tabloid format, it serves the communities of Carrickfergus, Greenisland, Larne, Whitehead and East Antrim as a whole. The paper is published by National World, one of the United Kingdom’s major regional newspaper groups. On its website the paper is also known as the Carrickfergus Times. With more than 130 years of continuous publication, it ranks among the longest-established weekly newspapers in Northern Ireland, and its pages have chronicled the life of the East Antrim coast from the Victorian era to the present day. Its website is carricktimes.co.uk.
History and founding
The Carrick Times was established in 1891, in the closing decade of the nineteenth century, and it was formerly known as the Carrick Times and East Antrim Times — a name that reflects its historic ambition to serve the wider East Antrim district rather than Carrickfergus alone. The paper’s early decades coincided with Carrickfergus’s growth as a market town and port, and its archive, held in part by the British Newspaper Archive, provides a window onto local life across the twentieth century, from the Edwardian era through two world wars, the Troubles and the peace process. The paper was taken into the Johnston Press group — passing through JPIMedia into National World ownership in 2021 — joining a stable of Northern Ireland weeklies that includes the Larne Times, Ballymena Times, Coleraine Times and others. Reference directories list the paper’s editor as Valerie Martin.
Coverage area
The newspaper serves Carrickfergus and the East Antrim coastal district. Its core patch takes in Carrickfergus itself — the historic town dominated by its twelfth-century Norman castle — along with Greenisland, Whitehead, Larne and the villages and rural townlands of East Antrim. This is a distinctive part of Northern Ireland: a coastal strip with a strong maritime heritage, commuter towns serving Belfast, and a rural hinterland of farms and glens. The paper covers the civic and community life of the area: Mid and East Antrim Borough Council business, planning and development along the coast, policing and court reporting, schools, churches and the many sporting and voluntary organisations that anchor local life.
Content and editorial focus
The Carrick Times covers sport, culture, entertainment and local news and updates. Its news pages report on the issues that matter to East Antrim readers — from town-centre regeneration in Carrickfergus and Larne to coastal erosion, harbour developments, road infrastructure and the local economy. Sport is a substantial part of the paper, with coverage of the area’s football clubs, including Carrick Rangers, as well as rugby, golf, GAA and the many youth leagues of the district. Culture and entertainment pages cover local arts, music and heritage — fitting for a town with Carrickfergus’s historic pedigree — alongside listings for events across the area. Family notices, school photographs, community announcements and local business advertising complete the weekly package, making the paper a comprehensive record of district life.
Print publication and format
The Carrick Times is published as a paid-for weekly newspaper in tabloid format. The tabloid format — compact and accessible — has been the paper’s presentation for its modern era, suited to the mix of news, sport and pictures that defines the community weekly. The paper is audited within the regional press system, and its print edition is distributed through newsagents and shops across Carrickfergus, Larne, Greenisland, Whitehead and the surrounding district. Like other National World titles in Northern Ireland, the paper’s production has been through several group-wide arrangements, including the 2017 restructure that moved the company’s Northern Ireland weeklies to standardised templates.
Ownership: National World
The Carrick Times is published by National World, the publishing group that acquired JPIMedia — and with it the former Johnston Press titles — in 2021. National World’s Northern Ireland portfolio includes the daily News Letter and a string of weeklies: the Ballymena Times, Ballymoney and Moyle Times, Carrick Times, Coleraine Times, Dromore Leader, Larne Times, Londonderry Sentinel, Lurgan Mail, Mid Ulster Mail, Portadown Times, Tyrone Times and Ulster Star, alongside free titles including the Belfast News. The paper’s editorial office is listed at Unit 1, Ledcom Industrial Estate, 100 Bank Road, Larne — reflecting the group’s practice of basing editorial operations for several East Antrim titles together. The consolidation of the local press into large groups has been the defining business story of the Carrick Times’s recent decades, even as the paper has kept its distinct East Antrim identity.
A literary connection
Carrickfergus’s most famous literary son is the poet Louis MacNeice, who spent part of his childhood in the town, and the British Newspaper Archive’s blog has explored the Carrick Times’s pages as a source for the world MacNeice knew — a reminder of the paper’s value as a historical record. The paper’s archive captures the Carrickfergus of the shipyards and the linen era, the town’s twentieth-century expansion, and the changing face of the Antrim coast. For family historians and researchers, the digitised pages of the Carrick Times and East Antrim Times offer a rich seam of local detail: court reports, council minutes, advertisements, sporting results and the small announcements that together reconstruct everyday life.
Digital presence and website
The Carrick Times publishes online at carricktimes.co.uk, where it appears as the Carrickfergus Times, carrying the week’s news, sport, culture and entertainment coverage for East Antrim. The website is part of National World’s digital network in Northern Ireland and is designed for mobile and desktop readers, with stories updated through the week alongside the print edition’s weekly cycle. The paper also maintains a social media presence, including an official Facebook page, through which it promotes stories and engages with readers. The digital edition extends the paper’s reach to former residents and the East Antrim diaspora, and to visitors discovering the coast’s attractions.
Market context
The Carrick Times operates in a local market shaped by both consolidation and competition. Its stablemate, the Larne Times, covers the neighbouring town of Larne from within the same publishing group, while the independent East Antrim Advertiser serves as a free-sheet competitor in parts of the patch. The closure of the historic Carrickfergus Advertiser in January 2014 — after 131 years, with the loss of nine jobs — removed a long-standing rival and left the Carrick Times as the principal paid weekly for the town. That closure, reported by the Guardian and the Press Gazette at the time, illustrated the pressures on the local press even as the Carrick Times itself survived and continued publishing.
Role in the community
For the people of Carrickfergus and East Antrim, the Carrick Times has been the paper of record for well over a century. Its pages have announced the town’s weddings and mourned its dead, celebrated its sporting victories and debated its future, through eras of profound change — from the industrial Carrickfergus of the early twentieth century to the commuter and heritage town of today. The paper’s photographers have documented generations of local life, and its archive forms one of the most complete visual and written records of the East Antrim coast. In an age when local news is under pressure everywhere, the paper’s survival into its fourteenth decade is a testament to the loyalty of its readers and the enduring demand for news that is truly local.
How to read and contact the paper
The Carrick Times is available in print from newsagents across Carrickfergus, Greenisland, Whitehead, Larne and East Antrim, and online at carricktimes.co.uk, where it appears as the Carrickfergus Times with the week’s news, sport and community content. Readers can also follow the paper through its official social media channels and through National World’s Northern Ireland digital platforms.
