Huntly Express

About Huntly Express

The Huntly Express is a weekly local newspaper serving Huntly and the surrounding district in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Published every Friday, it covers local news, sport, what's-on and community events for the town and its rural hinterland at the meeting point of Aberdeenshire and Moray. With archive editions stretching back to 1864, it is one of the longest-running weekly titles in the north-east of Scotland. The paper is independently owned by J & M Publishing, based at 9 Gordon Street in Huntly, and its editorial deadline is 5pm on Wednesdays for material to be considered for the Friday edition.

A Victorian Foundation

The Huntly Express was founded in 1864, in the great Victorian expansion of the Scottish provincial press. Editions from as early as 1874 survive in the British Newspaper Archive, which holds tens of thousands of pages of the title — some 50,436 pages covering 1864 to 1993 in the Findmypast/ British Newspaper Archive digital collection. Those Victorian and Edwardian editions, published on Saturdays in the paper's early decades, open a window on a market town living through the agricultural revolution, the railway age and the social upheavals of the late nineteenth century: market reports, burgh council business, church affairs, school news, advertisements for emigrant ships and patent medicines, and — a striking feature of the era — "latest news by electric telegraph" from London and the Continent. The paper's long, unbroken run makes it a primary source for historians of the Huntly district.

Huntly and Its District

Huntly is a historic market town in Aberdeenshire, lying where the rivers Deveron and Bogie meet, on the edge of the Grampian foothills. The town is dominated by the ruins of Huntly Castle, the ancestral seat of the Gordons, Earls and Marquesses of Huntly, and its planned town centre — laid out in the eighteenth century — retains a distinctive Georgian character. The surrounding district is rich farming country, famous for its shortbread and whisky connections, with the town serving as a service centre for a wide rural area stretching toward Keith, Dufftown and the Cabrach. Huntly's community life is famously active: the town supports a noted arts scene, including the Deveron Projects arts organisation, alongside traditional institutions such as the Huntly Golf Club, Huntly F.C. in the Highland League, and a calendar of agricultural shows and community events. The Express covers them all.

Publication Details

The Huntly Express is published every Friday. According to the Cision media database, the paper's editorial deadline is Wednesday at 5pm, and it is aimed at residents and businesses of Huntly and the surrounding area. The paper is owned by J & M Publishing, an independent local publisher, and operates from 9 Gordon Street, Huntly, AB54 8AJ. The editorial team can be reached on 01466 793 622 and by email at mail@huntlyexpress.co.uk, with advertising enquiries directed to Katherine Brewer at k.brewer@huntly-express.co.uk. Unlike many Scottish weeklies, which have been absorbed into national publishing groups, the Express remains in independent local ownership — a distinction that shapes its character and its relationship with its readers.

Editorial Coverage

The paper's remit, as described in media listings, spans local news, sport, what's-on and events. In practice that means Aberdeenshire Council and community council business, planning applications, court reports, school and youth news, farming and mart reports, church and community notices, and a full sports section covering Huntly F.C., junior and youth football, rugby, golf, shinty and athletics. The what's-on pages are a vital service in a district where community halls, churches and clubs generate a constant stream of concerts, ceilidhs, fundraisers and shows. Readers' letters give the town a forum for debate, and the paper's local history features draw on its own extraordinary archive — few weeklies can illustrate a "looking back" column with 160 years of their own back numbers.

The Archive as a Treasure

The Huntly Express's archive is one of its greatest assets. With digitised editions from 1864 onwards available through the British Newspaper Archive and Findmypast, the paper's history is searchable by family historians, academics and the merely curious. The archive captures the town through the Franco-Prussian War (reported via the electric telegraph in 1870s editions), the agricultural depression, the First World War — when the paper carried casualty lists and reports from the Front — the interwar years, and the Second World War, when editions from 1940 to 1943 document rationing, civil defence and the town's war effort. For genealogists tracing Huntly families, the Express's births, marriages, deaths and court reports are an irreplaceable resource.

Independent Ownership

The Express's independence sets it apart in a Scottish weekly market dominated by a handful of large groups — Iconic Media, Newsquest, Reach and DC Thomson. J & M Publishing's local ownership means editorial decisions are taken in Huntly, by people who live in the community the paper serves. That independence is both a strength and a challenge: the paper enjoys a depth of local trust that group-owned titles sometimes struggle to match, but it faces the same economic headwinds — declining print advertising, the migration of readers online, rising print and distribution costs — without the cushion of a corporate parent. Its survival as an independent weekly into the 2020s is itself a noteworthy achievement in British regional journalism.

The Friday Rhythm

The weekly rhythm of the Express — deadline Wednesday evening, on sale Friday — structures the news week in Huntly. Friday publication means the paper carries the weekend's sport previews, the week's council decisions and the community notices for the weekend ahead, making it the essential companion to the weekend in the district. Newsagents, supermarkets and local shops across Huntly and the surrounding villages stock the paper, and for many households buying the Express on a Friday remains a fixed habit passed down through generations.

Competition and the Media Landscape

The Express operates in a competitive local media environment. The Aberdeen-based Press and Journal, the north-east's daily newspaper, covers Huntly as part of its Aberdeenshire patch, and the title also faces competition for readers' attention from BBC Scotland, social media community groups and the various free publications circulating in the area. Its defence is hyper-local depth: the Press and Journal cannot match the Express for Huntly community council minutes, junior football reports or village hall news, and it is on that ground that the weekly continues to justify its existence.

Community Role

For 160 years the Huntly Express has been the institutional memory of its district. It recorded the town's response to the railway's arrival and to the world wars; it chronicled the rise and fall of local industries; it celebrates each year's exam results, sporting triumphs and community awards. In a small town, the weekly paper is not just a source of news but a shared reference point — the thing everybody has read, the letters page everybody argues about, the photograph of the school team that gets cut out and kept. The Express's continued publication, under independent local ownership, keeps that tradition alive in Huntly.

Contact and Access

The Huntly Express is published by J & M Publishing from 9 Gordon Street, Huntly, Aberdeenshire AB54 8AJ. The editorial team can be contacted on 01466 793 622 or by email at mail@huntlyexpress.co.uk; advertising enquiries go to Katherine Brewer at k.brewer@huntly-express.co.uk. The paper is on sale every Friday from retailers across Huntly and the surrounding district.