Everything Epping Forest
Everything Epping Forest is a hyperlocal community news website covering the Epping Forest district of Essex, England, published at everythingeppingforest.co.uk. It was launched in November 2008 by local journalist David Jackman, who had just taken redundancy from the Epping Forest Guardian after 21 years with the Newsquest title. Built on the belief that even the smallest snippet of local news is worth reporting, the site grew from a one-man start-up into one of Britain's most frequently cited examples of hyperlocal journalism, attracting hundreds of thousands of hits a month, featuring on national television and radio, and later reverse-publishing into a printed monthly magazine in partnership with regional publisher Archant. It remains a landmark case study in what an experienced local editor can build after leaving a traditional newsroom.
Founded after redundancy in 2008
The site's origin story is closely tied to the contraction of the regional press in the late 2000s. David Jackman took redundancy in October 2008 from Newsquest titles including the Epping Forest Guardian, the Harlow and Bishop's Stortford Citizens and the Epping Forest Independent, ending a 21-year stint with the Epping Forest title where he had served as editor. The following month, November 2008, he launched everythingeppingforest.co.uk. His promise was that the site would cover the big stories as well as the community news and grassroots issues he felt local newspapers had started to ignore. Where a traditional weekly had limited space, a website had none of those constraints, and Jackman set out to report at a level of detail — down to coffee mornings and local club reports — that print titles increasingly could not sustain.
Rapid growth and national attention
The experiment found an audience quickly. By early 2010 the site was regularly receiving more than 40,000 hits per week, and Jackman launched a sister site, Everything Harlow, in February 2010 to extend the model to the neighbouring town. By February 2012 Everything Epping Forest was registering around 200,000 hits a month, and by April 2013 Archant's commercial director Tony Little was citing more than 400,000 hits a month. The success of Everything Epping Forest as a hyperlocal news source was featured on Sky News, on the BBC Radio 4 programme You and Yours and on BBC Essex, as well as in several media publications. At a time when commentators were debating whether local journalism could survive outside the big regional groups, Jackman's site was repeatedly held up as an example of the way forward for local news and information following redundancies in the regional press.
What the site covers
Everything Epping Forest covers the Epping Forest district in depth: Epping itself, Theydon Bois, North Weald, Abridge, Loughton, Chigwell, Buckhurst Hill, Ongar, Waltham Abbey and the surrounding villages. Its editorial mix combines breaking local news, council and planning coverage, community events, club and society reports, and a what's on diary. Jackman's stated philosophy was that he was passionate about local news and local events and a firm believer that even the smallest snippet of news is worthy of reporting, whether a coffee morning or a report from a local club. The site also maintains an email news service for subscribers, keeping registered readers updated directly. That combination of comprehensive diary coverage and hard local news is what distinguishes the hyperlocal model from both social media groups and district-wide newspaper websites.
Reverse publishing: the Archant magazine
In February 2012 Everything Epping Forest took the unusual step of moving from web to print — a process known in the trade as reverse publishing. Jackman teamed up with Archant London to launch a monthly colour magazine, also called Everything Epping Forest, with the first edition published in March 2012 and delivered to some 10,000 households. Jackman provided the editorial while Archant handled advertising, printing and distribution. The magazine proved so successful that in July 2012 its print run rose by 20,000, from 10,000 to 30,000 copies, extending delivery beyond Epping, Theydon Bois, North Weald and Abridge to Loughton, Chigwell and Buckhurst Hill. Jackman said producing a regular, high quality printed edition with mass circulation had always been in his thoughts but had previously been prohibitive on printing and distribution costs, and that the website would continue its usual mix of regularly updated news while the magazine carried the brand into thousands of homes each month.
Expansion of the Everything brand
The magazine and website both kept growing. By 2013 there were three editions of the Everything Epping Forest magazine, covering Epping, Ongar and the surrounding villages; Loughton; and Chigwell and Buckhurst Hill, with a fourth edition for the Woodford area launched in May 2013 and distribution increased beyond 30,000. Each edition carried substantial editorial — 14 pages of it, plus a double-page what's on section — which Jackman contrasted with community magazines that were mostly advertising, describing his title as more of a coffee table publication. In June 2013 an Everything Harlow magazine followed, building on the sister website launched in 2010. Archant's Tony Little praised Jackman as a much-respected local journalist with important contacts in the local area, and said the publisher was delighted to continue its involvement with such a successful community-focused initiative.
Campaigning on public notices
Everything Epping Forest also became a voice in the national debate about public notices and the economics of local news. Jackman publicly criticised his former paper after Epping Forest District Council was quoted almost £50,000 per public notice for parking review adverts by the Newsquest-owned Epping Forest Guardian — a total of £284,598 for six adverts — forcing the council to freeze the reviews. Because the law then required councils to place such notices in a local newspaper, and the Guardian was the only paper covering the whole area, the publisher could effectively name its price. Jackman wrote to local MPs, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and his own subscribers calling for a change in the law so councils could choose where to place public notices, including on local news websites like his. The episode underlined both the site's influence and the structural argument for recognising hyperlocal publishers within the local media economy.
Recognition for community service
Jackman's contribution to his district has been formally recognised. He was nominated for Epping Forest District Council's Citizen of the Year civic award in 2020, and Highly Commended in 2022 in recognition of his commitment to the local community of Epping Forest. That recognition reflects the site's longevity as much as its traffic: a service launched in the early days of hyperlocal journalism continued operating and serving the same patch well over a decade later, long after many similar start-ups had folded. The site's own news pages record the nomination and commendation alongside its continuing daily coverage.
The founder's background
The credibility behind the site came from Jackman's long career in the district's established press. He spent 21 years with the Epping Forest Guardian titles at Newsquest, rising to editor, and his standing in the area predated the website by decades; he was, for example, among the local editors introduced to the Prince of Wales when the prince visited the Abbey Church in Waltham Abbey. That depth of contacts and local knowledge was repeatedly cited by partners such as Archant as the foundation of the site's success. Everything Epping Forest demonstrated that the assets of traditional local journalism — trust, contacts, and knowledge of place — could be transferred to an independent digital platform when a newsroom career ended.
Place in British hyperlocal media
Everything Epping Forest holds an established place in the history of British hyperlocal media. Launched in November 2008, it was among the earliest wave of independent sites founded by experienced regional journalists, and its growth to hundreds of thousands of monthly hits, its national broadcast coverage, its reverse-published magazine reaching tens of thousands of households, and its founder's civic recognition together made it one of the movement's reference points. For readers in the Epping Forest district it is a daily source of news, events and community information; for media researchers it remains a documented example of how local news can be rebuilt, sustainably and at scale, around a single trusted local journalist.
