St Helens Reporter
The St Helens Reporter is the local newspaper for St Helens in Merseyside, England. Founded in 1891, it served the town as a weekly paid-for newspaper for well over a century before going digital-only in 2015. Today it continues as an online news brand at sthelensreporter.co.uk, publishing news and sport seven days a week. The title is part of the Iconic Media Group stable — the publishing group that includes the former Johnston Press and National World titles — and is listed alongside its National World sister publications.
St Helens is a large town in Merseyside, historically part of Lancashire, known around the world for two things: glass — the town was the home of Pilkington, the glassmaking giant — and rugby league, where St Helens R.F.C., known as Saints, are one of the most successful clubs in the sport's history. The Reporter has chronicled both, alongside the civic life of a town that grew from coal, glass and chemicals into a modern metropolitan borough.
Founded in 1891
The St Helens Reporter's history stretches back to 1891, the earliest date in the surviving archive. Microfilm holdings of the paper at Eccleston Library run from 1891 to 2012, a span of more than 120 years that makes the Reporter one of the longest-running newspapers in the Merseyside area. Through the twentieth century the paper reported on St Helens through its industrial heyday — the glassworks, the coal mines, the chemical plants — through the post-war rebuilding and the economic changes of the late twentieth century, to the town's regeneration in the twenty-first.
The Reporter was one of several newspapers serving the town over the years. The local archive also holds the St Helens Newspaper (1863–1976), the St Helens Standard (1865–1975) and the St Helens Newspaper & Advertiser (1902–1919), but the Reporter outlasted them all in print, becoming the town's established weekly.
Johnston Press ownership
For much of its modern history the Reporter was owned by Johnston Press, the Edinburgh-based regional publisher that grew to become one of the largest owners of local newspapers in Britain. Under Johnston Press the paper was a weekly paid-for title, sold in newsagents across St Helens and the surrounding borough, with a website that extended its reach online. The paper's editorial office was at Bank House, Claughton Street, St Helens, WA10 1RL.
Going digital-only in 2015
In October 2015 the St Helens Reporter ceased its print edition and went digital-only. The move was part of a major restructuring by Johnston Press, which axed eighteen newspapers in a single month — a decision reported by the Press Gazette on 23 October 2015 as one of the most dramatic episodes in the decline of the British regional press. The print edition's last issues are preserved in the Internet Archive's collection of the paper's 2015 editions, which show a full weekly paper — court reports, council news, sport, property and advertising — published right up to the end of print.
The decision reflected the economics of the regional press in the mid-2010s: print circulations falling, advertising migrating online, and publishers consolidating their titles around digital-first models. For the Reporter, the transition meant the end of 124 years of print publication — but not the end of the title itself.
The digital Reporter
Since 2015 the St Helens Reporter has continued as a digital-only news brand at sthelensreporter.co.uk, publishing news and sport online seven days a week. The site's own description presents it as the town's number one newspaper for news and for Saints rugby league, keeping readers updated daily with news and sport alongside property, entertainment and more. The digital transition preserved the Reporter's role as St Helens' dedicated news source, even as the economics of local journalism changed around it.
Saints: rugby league coverage
No account of the Reporter is complete without St Helens R.F.C. — Saints — the rugby league club that is the sporting heartbeat of the town. Saints, based at the Totally Wicked Stadium, are among the most successful clubs in rugby league history, with a record of Super League titles, Challenge Cups and World Club Challenges. The Reporter has been the paper of record for the club for generations: match reports, transfer news, interviews and the controversies and triumphs of the red vee. For many readers, the Reporter's Saints coverage is the primary reason to read it, and the paper's digital branding leans into that identity explicitly.
News coverage
The Reporter's news coverage concentrates on the life of the metropolitan borough of St Helens: St Helens Council business, planning and development, schools and education, health services, policing and the courts, transport and the town centre's ongoing regeneration. The paper reports on the issues that define the modern town — from the redevelopment of former industrial sites to the pressures on public services — and gives a platform to community campaigns. Its archive, from the print years, is a detailed record of the town's twentieth-century history, and the St Helens Archive Service holds deposited photographic collections from the paper dating from the 1950s to the 1990s.
Sport beyond Saints
While rugby league dominates, the Reporter also covers the wider sporting life of the borough: football, with the local non-league and amateur clubs; cricket, rugby union, boxing, darts and the other sports of the area's clubs and schools. The paper's sports pages have long served the players, supporters and families of St Helens' sporting community, and the digital site continues that coverage with daily updates.
Property, entertainment and lifestyle
Alongside news and sport, the Reporter carries property coverage — new developments, the housing market and commercial property in the borough — and entertainment news, from the Theatre Royal St Helens and the Citadel arts centre to the town's music, nightlife and events. This mix of news, sport, property and entertainment is the standard offering of the modern local news website, designed to serve readers across the full range of their local interests.
Ownership today: National World and Iconic Media Group
Through Johnston Press's sale to JPIMedia in 2018 and the subsequent acquisition of JPIMedia's titles by National World, the Reporter became part of one of Britain's largest regional publishing groups. The title is currently listed under the Iconic Media Group — the publishing stable that encompasses the former Johnston Press and National World titles — with its publishing leadership drawn from the group's national team. Its social and corporate presence is linked to the National World publishing operation, and the title sits alongside dozens of sister local newspapers across the country.
The Reporter today
More than 130 years after its founding in 1891, the St Helens Reporter continues to serve its town — no longer in print, but online every day at sthelensreporter.co.uk, reporting the news and sport of St Helens seven days a week. The transition from a 124-year-old weekly paper to a digital-only brand is one of the defining stories of the modern British local press, and the Reporter is among the titles that made the journey successfully. For the people of St Helens, it remains their paper: the dedicated chronicler of the council chamber and the busy courtroom, of the glass town's ongoing regeneration — and, above all, of Saints.
