Daily Post

About Daily Post

The Daily Post is the daily newspaper of North Wales — a title whose roots stretch back to 1855 and which has spent more than 150 years striving, in its own words, "to create a paper which informs, entertains and campaigns for our readers as the voice of North Wales". Owned by Reach plc and known online as North Wales Live at dailypost.co.uk, it covers a vast and varied patch from the English border to the Llŷn Peninsula, in two languages and across some of Britain's most dramatic landscapes.

History and Founding

The Daily Post's masthead proclaims that it has served readers "since 1855", and the paper celebrated its 50,000th edition in September 2013 with a wraparound special featuring a montage of memorable front and back pages — including the Penmaenmawr train disaster and the investiture of the Prince of Wales — plus a 16-page pullout with messages from former editors and politicians including David Cameron.

For much of its history the paper was part of a Liverpool-based publishing operation. It gained independence from the Liverpool Daily Post in 2003, becoming a standalone North Wales title; the Liverpool paper later ceased production in December 2013. The demerger allowed the Daily Post to focus entirely on its Welsh patch, and it has been published as North Wales's own daily ever since.

The paper was based on Vale Road, Llandudno Junction, from 2001 to 2017. In May 2017 it moved to a base at Bryn Eirias on Abergele Road, Colwyn Bay, and its headquarters are listed as Colwyn Bay. As of 2025, the newspaper's staff work entirely remotely with no dedicated permanent office — a striking symbol of how the business of local news has changed.

Coverage Area and Readership

The Daily Post is a daily newspaper for the North Wales region, covering the six principal areas of North Wales — Wrexham, Flintshire, Denbighshire, Conwy, Gwynedd and Anglesey — as well as parts of Cheshire across the English border. Its patch takes in the post-industrial towns of the north-east, the seaside resorts of the north coast, the university city of Bangor, the mountains of Eryri (Snowdonia) and the island of Anglesey.

In January 2011 the paper launched separate editions for the eastern and western areas of its patch: a North East Wales edition covering Denbighshire, Flintshire and Wrexham, and a North West Wales edition covering Anglesey, Gwynedd and Conwy, running Monday to Saturday with local news on the front page and several inside pages. The change followed a reader survey and was the second phase of changes after the paper increased its content and features offering in September 2010.

Circulation was 28,331 in the first half of 2013 (down 7.4 per cent year on year); the most recently audited figure was 6,843 (2024). As ever, the digital audience at North Wales Live is far larger than the print sale.

Ownership

The Daily Post is owned by Reach plc — the UK's largest regional news publisher, formerly Trinity Mirror — and sits within Reach's portfolio of Welsh titles alongside the Western Mail, South Wales Echo and WalesOnline. Reach's ownership gives the paper access to group-wide digital platforms, shared content and commercial scale, while editorial direction remains with the North Wales newsroom.

Editorial Approach

The paper's editorial philosophy was set out by brand editor Dion Vaughan Jones in a December 2020 letter to readers: for more than 150 years, he wrote, the paper has strived to be the voice of North Wales — "investigating wrongdoing, revealing hypocrisy, reporting the news that matters most to you, examining the issues that affect us all and entertaining you and your families".

Its journalism covers the Senedd and Welsh Government's impact on the north, the six local authorities, the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board — the largest health organisation in Wales — the courts, education and the rural economy, alongside tourism, the Welsh language and the region's rich cultural life. Sport coverage follows Wrexham AFC — whose Hollywood-backed revival has made the club a global story the paper has covered from the inside — as well as the region's rugby, cricket and grassroots clubs.

The editor is Andrew Campbell. Previous editors include Alison Gow, who edited the paper at the time of its 50,000th edition in 2013 and said she doubted she had worked for a title "more intertwined with the area it covers", and Rob Irvine, the Trinity Mirror North Wales publishing director who oversaw the 2011 edition changes.

Print and Digital Presence

In print, the Daily Post is a daily newspaper published Monday to Saturday. Online, its website is branded North Wales Live at dailypost.co.uk — part of Reach's "Live" network of regional news brands — publishing news around the clock with live blogs, video, newsletters and extensive social media output.

The move to fully remote working by 2025, with no permanent office, was a landmark moment: a 170-year-old newspaper produced entirely by journalists working from home across North Wales, coordinated digitally. The paper also offers digital subscriptions and apps, following the industry-wide shift to reader revenue.

Notable Coverage

Few regional papers have had a story to match the Wrexham AFC revival: the Daily Post covered the club's darkest days — administration, relegation from the Football League, the fight for the Racecourse Ground — and then its extraordinary rebirth under Hollywood owners, back-to-back promotions and return to the Football League, reporting a story that drew the eyes of the world to a small Welsh city.

The paper's front pages have recorded the great events of modern North Wales: the investiture of the Prince of Wales at Caernarfon, the Penmaenmawr rail disaster, the development of the A55 expressway, the rise and fall of the region's heavy industries, and the growth of tourism in Eryri. Its 50,000th-edition wraparound in 2013 was itself a celebration of that shared history between paper and place.

Community Role

The Daily Post's claim to be "the voice of North Wales" is backed by more than a century and a half of campaigning journalism. Its appeals have raised money for local hospices, hospitals and charities; its coverage of the Welsh language, eisteddfodau and cultural festivals reflects a region where Cymraeg is a living daily language; and its reporting on rural communities, farming and the coastal towns gives a platform to areas often overlooked by the Cardiff- and London-based media.

The paper's archive is an irreplaceable record of North Wales's modern history, from the slate quarries to the holiday camps to the Hollywood era.

Recent Developments

The transition to a fully remote newsroom in 2025 marked the latest chapter in the paper's long adaptation to changing times — from hot metal to digital-first, from Llandudno Junction to Colwyn Bay to the cloud. Under Reach's ownership, North Wales Live continues to grow its digital audience while the print edition serves its loyal core of daily readers.

As Alison Gow said at the 50,000th edition: "I can't tell you what the 100,000th Daily Post will look like, or how you'll read it, but I'm utterly sure it will still be around." More than 170 years after its founding, the Daily Post remains North Wales's daily paper — informing, entertaining and campaigning for the region it serves.