NorthWalesLive

About NorthWalesLive

NorthWalesLive is the digital news brand for North Wales, published at northwaleslive.co.uk by Reach plc. It is the online identity of one of Britain's oldest regional newspapers — the Daily Post, which has served North Wales since 1855 — rebranded for the digital age in December 2018 as part of Reach's nationwide "Live" network. Covering the six counties of North Wales from Anglesey to Wrexham, the site combines the heritage and reporting strength of the Daily Post and its weekly sister titles with a modern, mobile-first digital newsroom. Updated around the clock, it covers breaking news, politics, courts, tourism, the Welsh language, and the region's passionate sporting life, and describes itself as the go-to website for people living and working in North Wales — or planning to visit.

History and Founding

NorthWalesLive's history is the history of the Daily Post. The North Wales Daily Post has been published since 1855, and for more than 150 years its editors have described it as the voice of North Wales — a paper that informs, entertains and campaigns for its readers. The title survived the consolidation of the British regional press, the rise of the internet, and the decline of print to remain the region's leading daily newspaper.

In December 2018 the Daily Post's website was rebranded as North Wales Live, the latest Reach plc title to join the publisher's "Live" network. The change was announced by editor Andrew Campbell, who wrote that the paper had been covering the best news, sport and entertainment in North Wales since 1855 and that it was time for the website's name to reflect the region it serves 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The rebrand brought the site into line with sister titles across the country, though some Reach publications — including the Liverpool Echo, the Manchester Evening News and the Wales-wide WalesOnline — retained their historic names online. The Daily Post itself continued in print unaffected by the online rebrand.

Mission and Coverage Focus

NorthWalesLive covers the six principal areas of North Wales: Anglesey, Gwynedd, Conwy, Denbighshire, Flintshire and Wrexham — from Holyhead and Bangor in the west to Wrexham and Deeside in the east, taking in Llandudno, Rhyl, Colwyn Bay, Caernarfon, Porthmadog and the towns of the border country. Its coverage spans breaking news, crime and the courts, Welsh politics — the Senedd in Cardiff and Westminster — the NHS including the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, education, tourism and the visitor economy of Snowdonia and the coast, farming and rural affairs, the Welsh language and culture, property, food and drink, and sport, with extensive coverage of Wrexham AFC — whose Hollywood-fuelled rise has become a global story — alongside the region's rugby, cricket and grassroots clubs.

To coincide with the 2018 rebrand, six hyperlocal Facebook pages were created — Gwynedd Live, Wrexham Live, Flintshire Live, Denbighshire Live, Conwy Live and Anglesey Live — allowing the site to serve distinct communities within the region. The site publishes the best stories from the Daily Post, the Caernarfon and Denbigh Herald, the Holyhead and Anglesey Mail, the Bangor and Anglesey Mail and the North Wales Weekly News, alongside articles written specially for the website, and has committed to content that celebrates the region's history, culture and landscape.

Ownership and Funding

NorthWalesLive is owned by Reach plc, the UK's largest commercial news publisher, which describes itself as the country's number one news publisher with more than 38 million people visiting its online network each month — around 75 per cent of all UK internet users. The site sits within Reach's Welsh operation alongside WalesOnline, the Western Mail, the South Wales Echo and the South Wales Evening Post. Its regional newsbrands, NorthWalesLive and the Daily Post, cover Bangor, Wrexham, Anglesey, Llandudno, Rhyl, Conwy, Holyhead, Caernarfon, Denbigh and Betws-y-Coed.

The site is funded principally through digital advertising, together with print sales and advertising from the Daily Post and the group's commercial products. In 2024 the Daily Post joined Wales's five other daily newspapers — Reach's Western Mail, South Wales Echo and South Wales Evening Post, Newsquest's South Wales Argus and The Leader — in a rare joint front-page campaign urging Senedd members to retain the legal requirement for councils to publish public notices in local print titles, warning that removing it could "push the Welsh media over the edge".

Editorial Approach

NorthWalesLive operates as a digital-first newsroom, publishing continuously through the day and night with live blogs for breaking news, major incidents, court cases, weather events and traffic disruption across the region's roads — including the A55 expressway, the lifeline of the North Wales coast. Its journalists cover the courts, councils, inquests and emergency services, while audience-focused formats — live travel updates, "things to do" guides, nostalgia content drawing on the Daily Post's 170-year archive, and community stories — broaden its appeal.

The tone is accessible and celebratory as well as hard-news driven: the rebrand explicitly promised more content reflecting pride in North Wales and the interests of a growing online audience. The site is bilingual in its sensibilities, covering Welsh-language culture, the National Eisteddfod and issues of language policy with the seriousness they command in a region where Welsh is a living community language. Its social media distribution, particularly through the six county Facebook pages, is central to its audience strategy.

Audience and Reach

NorthWalesLive reaches a large and growing audience across North Wales and beyond. As part of the Reach network, it benefits from the group's enormous UK digital footprint, while its core readership is concentrated in the six counties of the north — a population of around 700,000 people — extended by the Welsh diaspora, second-home owners, and the millions of tourists who visit Snowdonia, the Llŷn Peninsula and the North Wales coast each year. The global attention on Wrexham AFC has brought the site new international readers.

The site's Facebook pages — including the six county Live pages launched at the rebrand — command large followings and drive significant engagement, while its newsletters and mobile presence serve readers who follow North Wales news from across the UK and the world.

Digital Innovation

The 2018 rebrand itself was an act of digital innovation: taking a 163-year-old newspaper brand and giving its website a name built for the search and social era. Since then the site has developed the full toolkit of modern regional digital journalism — live blogging, video, interactive content, newsletters, push notifications and the InYourArea hyperlocal platform, which provides postcode-level news and information. Its journalists work with audience analytics, search optimisation and social storytelling as core disciplines.

The site has also pioneered the county-level Facebook page model within Wales, creating distinct communities for each of North Wales's six areas — a structure that allows hyperlocal conversation within a regional brand. Its integration with the Daily Post's print operation means exclusive investigations and campaigns move seamlessly between paper and screen.

Notable Coverage

Drawing on the Daily Post's 170-year archive, NorthWalesLive's coverage spans the defining stories of modern North Wales: the decline and reinvention of the coastal resorts, the battles over the Wylfa nuclear power station on Anglesey, the pressures on the Welsh NHS, the second-homes debate that has convulsed Welsh politics, the campaign for the electrification and improvement of the North Wales railways, and the transformation of the region's tourism economy.

In recent years the site's coverage of Wrexham AFC — from the club's takeover to its historic promotions — has reached a global audience, while its reporting on storms and flooding, on the A55, and on the region's health services has provided the sustained local scrutiny that national media cannot. The Daily Post's historic campaigns — including its long-standing advocacy for North Wales, captured in the brand editor's 2020 letter thanking readers for supporting "the voice of North Wales" for more than 150 years — continue through the website.

Community Impact

NorthWalesLive's community impact flows from the Daily Post's centuries-old role as the region's champion. The paper's campaigns have fought for investment in North Wales's roads, railways, hospitals and industries; its appeals have raised money for hospices, hospitals and charities across the six counties; and its community awards celebrate the volunteers, carers and fundraisers of the region. The site's nostalgia content, drawing on the photographic archives of the Daily Post and its weekly sisters, connects readers with the North Wales of previous generations.

The six county Facebook pages have become genuine community forums — places where residents debate planning decisions, share missing-person appeals, celebrate local achievements and organise community action. In a region of scattered towns, villages and rural communities, the site functions as a digital town square.

Awards and Recognition

The Daily Post's journalism has been recognised with regional press awards over many years, and its editor has described it as an "award winning" title. The NorthWalesLive rebrand was presented as the start of a new chapter for an already decorated newsroom, and the site's journalists continue to be honoured for news reporting, campaigning and digital journalism within the Reach group and the wider industry.

Recent Developments

In recent years NorthWalesLive has continued to grow its digital audience while the Daily Post maintains its print edition as the region's daily paper. The site has benefited from the extraordinary global interest in Wrexham, bringing North Wales stories to readers worldwide. It has joined its Welsh sister titles in campaigning for the structural supports of local journalism — including the 2024 joint campaign to keep public notices in printed newspapers, a rare moment of unity between rival publishers in defence of the Welsh media. As North Wales faces the challenges and opportunities of the coming decade — from renewable energy and tourism pressures to the Welsh language's future — NorthWalesLive's role as the region's digital-first newsroom, built on the 170-year foundations of the Daily Post, remains central to its public life.