CheshireLive

About CheshireLive

CheshireLive is a county-wide digital news website serving Cheshire, England, owned and operated by Reach plc, the UK's largest commercial news publisher. Launched on 13 September 2018, it was created by bringing together the websites of three long-established weekly newspapers - the Chester Chronicle, the Crewe Chronicle and the Macclesfield Express - under a single new digital brand. Describing itself at launch as "your new home of live news, sport and entertainment across Cheshire", the site provides a one-stop online shop for news about the county, covering towns from Chester and Crewe to Warrington, Knutsford, Wilmslow, Congleton, Runcorn and Widnes. It operates as part of Reach plc's nationwide network of "Live" regional news brands, alongside titles such as BirminghamLive, Leeds Live, Liverpool Echo and the Manchester Evening News.

Launch and background

Cheshire Live launched on Thursday 13 September 2018, as reported at the time by industry publication HoldtheFrontPage. The launch was the culmination of a plan announced earlier that year by Trinity Mirror - the publisher that would shortly rename itself Reach plc - to merge the websites of the Crewe Chronicle, Chester Chronicle and Macclesfield Express into a single online title. It formed part of a nationwide introduction of the "Live" online rebranding being undertaken by most of the company's regional titles. The launch announcement, written by incoming publisher Frances Barrett, positioned Cheshire Live as "a new digital brand which brings the Chester Chronicle, Crewe Chronicle and Macclesfield Express websites together under the same umbrella". The existing websites - chesterchronicle.co.uk, crewechronicle.co.uk and the Macclesfield Express site - were wound into the new Cheshire Live platform.

A county-wide digital news service

The stated aim of the new brand was to become a county-wide digital news service. While continuing to serve the communities covered by the three print titles, Cheshire Live was designed to expand into areas of the county not previously served by Reach's papers. At launch the site was presented as the home of news from towns including Warrington, Knutsford, Wilmslow, Congleton, Runcorn and Widnes - several of which, including Warrington, Knutsford and Wilmslow, were traditionally served by rival Newsquest-owned weeklies, while Congleton had its own independently-owned Congleton Chronicle. According to HoldtheFrontPage's coverage of the launch, this expansion into territory served by rival publishers was an explicit part of the strategy. Reach's advertising arm describes the combined audience of CheshireLive and the Chester Chronicle as covering news stories across Crewe, Runcorn, Chester, Ellesmere Port, Widnes, Macclesfield, Wilmslow, Winsford, Nantwich and Knutsford.

Editorial structure at launch

The reorganisation announced alongside the launch reshuffled the editorial leadership of the county's titles. Frances Barrett, previously content editor at the Chester Chronicle, became publisher of Cheshire Live. Michael Green, who edited the Chester and Crewe Chronicles, became print editor for Cheshire. Gareth Tidman, editor of the Macclesfield Express, was promoted to the role of print publishing editor for Reach's weeklies at the company's new regional production hub in Manchester, taking responsibility for all of its Manchester weekly titles. On social media, the Chester Chronicle Facebook page became the main Cheshire Live platform, while the company retained the Crewe, Macclesfield and Ellesmere Port pages, renamed to reflect their association with Cheshire Live.

The Chester Chronicle heritage

Cheshire Live's launch statement made much of the heritage behind the new brand. "We are proud of our history as a trusted source of news and information since 1775," it declared, "when we began our journey serving the area as the Chester Chronicle." The Chester Chronicle, founded in 1775, is one of the oldest newspapers in the country, and its lineage gives Cheshire Live a claim to more than 240 years of continuous journalism in the county. The three founding print titles - the Chester Chronicle, Crewe Chronicle and Macclesfield Express - continue to publish in print alongside the digital brand, with CheshireLive and the Chester Chronicle sold together to advertisers as a combined print-and-online proposition.

Coverage and content

CheshireLive covers breaking news, crime, court reporting, traffic and travel, business, property, health, education, sport and entertainment across the county. Its live-blog format, typical of Reach's regional "Live" brands, delivers rolling coverage of major incidents, weather events and travel disruption. The site carries dedicated coverage of the area's football and rugby clubs, alongside community news, restaurant and pub coverage, and "what's on" guides. As with other Reach regional sites, it is funded by digital display advertising and publishes frequently throughout the day, with reporters covering district patches across the county.

Warrington Live

In June 2021 Cheshire Live deepened its expansion into Warrington with the launch of a dedicated Warrington Live channel. The publisher hired district reporter Sarah O'Hara to lead the new channel after she completed her NCTJ qualifications at The City of Liverpool College. Warrington Live launched in direct competition with existing titles including Newsquest's Warrington Guardian and the independent Cheshire Times. The move formed part of Reach's stated aim to have a digital title covering every county in England and Wales, with the company describing CheshireLive in job advertisements as "Cheshire's biggest, dedicated news site". Earlier in 2021, Reach had announced a recruitment drive creating 25 new journalism jobs to expand its regional digital coverage, with one of the new roles serving Warrington for Cheshire Live.

Reach plc ownership

CheshireLive is part of Reach plc, which describes itself as the UK's largest commercial publisher, with a monthly readership of 47 million people across its brands and more than 38 million people visiting its online network every month - around 75 per cent of all UK internet users. Reach's portfolio spans national titles including the Mirror, Daily Express and OK! magazine alongside regional brands such as the Liverpool Echo, BirminghamLive and the Manchester Evening News. The company's regional strategy in recent years has centred on growing its "Live" digital network, launching new county- and city-level websites and investing in district-level reporting. In its recruitment materials, Reach tells candidates that its regional newsrooms are giving online audiences more of what they want, with readers visiting more often and engaging more deeply than before.

Public notices and civic role

Like other Reach regional titles, Cheshire Live plays a civic role beyond its journalism through participation in the Public Notices Portal, a joint initiative of local news publishers that provides a widely accessible online home for statutory public notices. Reach's chief revenue officer Piers North has described the portal as strengthening the vital democratic role of local news titles, noting that trusted local newsbrands keep communities informed not only through reporting but by hosting public notices. Reach supported the portal's creation by building the website technology with its own development teams.

Advertising and audience

Reach sells advertising across CheshireLive and the Chester Chronicle together, offering digital display, newsletter advertising, content marketing and video solutions to local and national brands. The combined proposition is aimed at businesses wanting to reach audiences across the county's main population centres, from Chester and Crewe in the south to Warrington and Widnes in the north. The publisher's commercial materials emphasise that its regional newsbrands deliver brand-safe, results-driven campaigns with a deep understanding of local audiences. As Cheshire's dedicated county-wide news site, CheshireLive remains the digital flagship of Reach's journalism in the county, pairing the heritage of the 1775 Chester Chronicle with a thoroughly modern, continuously updated online news operation.