White Horse News
The White Horse News is a free fortnightly newspaper serving the Wiltshire town of Westbury and the surrounding villages. Published by the independent family-owned Wiltshire Publications, it has been produced since 1991 and is distributed door-to-door to around 9,500 homes every two weeks. It has the largest circulation of any newspaper in the Westbury area and is the only newspaper delivered to houses in the surrounding villages. Its name comes from the Westbury White Horse, the famous chalk hill figure that overlooks the town.
The White Horse News at a glance
The White Horse News is a free fortnightly newspaper that serves the town of Westbury, Wiltshire, and the surrounding villages. Some 9,500 printed copies are distributed door-to-door free every fortnight, and a digital edition of the paper is available to read online for free at whitehorsenews.co.uk. The paper was founded in 1991 and is packed with local news about Westbury, its schools, clubs, organisations and people, with the stated aim of bringing local, quality, balanced and unbiased news to the community. It is regulated by the press regulator IMPRESS, which has listed the title as regulated since 16 July 2025.
Named after the Westbury White Horse
The paper takes its name from the defining feature on the edge of the town: the Westbury White Horse, a chalk hill figure cut into the escarpment of Salisbury Plain above Westbury. The figure is one of Wiltshire's celebrated white horses and a landmark visible for miles across the county. The newspaper is named after it, anchoring the title's identity firmly in the landscape of its patch. Westbury is served by a fortnightly free newspaper, the White Horse News, which is delivered to all homes in the town and the nearby villages of Bratton, Dilton Marsh and Edington, among others.
Founded in 1991
The White Horse News was founded in 1991, making it the second title in what would become the Wiltshire Publications stable. The paper was established to give Westbury and its villages their own dedicated newspaper at a time when many small towns were losing distinctive local coverage. Wiltshire Publications took over the White Horse News in 1992, a year after its founding, and has published it ever since. The group is a family-owned business: its first title, the Melksham Independent News, was established in 1981, and it later took over the White Horse News in Westbury in 1992 and the Frome Times in 1999, before acquiring the Warminster Journal in January 2025.
The coverage area
The White Horse News covers Westbury and all the surrounding villages. Its distribution area takes in Bratton, Dilton Marsh, Edington, Hawkeridge, Heywood, Westbury Leigh and Erlestoke, as well as the town itself. Around 10,000 copies are distributed every fortnight across this area (the IMPRESS listing puts the current figure at 9,500), and it has the largest circulation of any newspaper in the Westbury area. Significantly, it is the only newspaper delivered to houses in the surrounding villages, giving it a reach into rural communities that paid-for titles do not match. Westbury is also served by the weekly Warminster Journal and the Wiltshire Times, but the White Horse News is the town's only dedicated fortnightly free paper with universal doorstep delivery.
The free, door-to-door model
The paper's business model is the classic free-newspaper one: every copy is delivered free to the door, and the paper is funded by advertising from local businesses. Some 9,500 printed copies go out door-to-door every fortnight, and the digital edition is free to read online. Because it costs readers nothing, the paper reaches households that would never buy a paid-for newspaper, and its advertisers reach every home in the distribution area. The model depends on a strong local advertising base — the shops, tradespeople, estate agents and services of Westbury and the surrounding villages — and on the goodwill of the community that reads it.
Wiltshire Publications: the independent owner
The White Horse News is published by Wiltshire Publications Ltd, a family-owned newspaper publisher with titles in west Wiltshire and east Somerset. The company owns the Melksham Independent News in Melksham, the White Horse News in Westbury, the Frome Times in Frome and, since January 2025, the Warminster Journal. HoldtheFrontPage, the trade publication for the UK regional press, describes Wiltshire Publications as an independent newspaper group and a family-run business with more than 40 years of experience in bringing local news to communities. Operations manager Joe McCann has said the company is proud to be expanding and bucking the trend of local newspaper decline, arguing that local news is essential for towns because it keeps residents informed, supports local businesses and ensures transparency in local governance. Since August 2000 the company printed its own newspapers after buying an L&M Pacer/Linonews web offset press, and set up a commercial printing division; as of January 2025 its newspapers are printed by Mortons of Horncastle.
Regulation by IMPRESS
The White Horse News is regulated by IMPRESS, the independent press regulator, and has been listed as regulated since 16 July 2025. IMPRESS regulation commits the paper to its published standards code, covering accuracy, privacy, harassment and discrimination, and gives readers access to the regulator's arbitration and complaints processes. For a small independent title, regulation signals a commitment to professional standards and accountability.
The digital edition
The paper's digital edition is available to read online for free at whitehorsenews.co.uk, the title's companion website. The site carries local news between editions and allows readers — including former residents and those who have moved away from the area — to keep up with Westbury and its villages. The website is one of a family of sites run by the group, alongside frometimes.co.uk, melkshamnews.com and warminsterjournal.co.uk.
The town of Westbury
Westbury is a market town in the west of Wiltshire, on the edge of Salisbury Plain and beneath the chalk escarpment that carries its white horse. The town grew around its market and its position on transport routes, and today it is a commuter and market town with its own railway station on the line between London and the West Country. Local news and television programmes for the area are provided by BBC West and ITV West Country, with signals received from the Mendip transmitter, and local radio includes BBC Radio Wiltshire, Heart West and Greatest Hits Radio South West. The White Horse News is the town's dedicated print newspaper, covering the town council, schools, sports clubs, community organisations and the villages around it.
What the paper covers
Each fortnightly edition is packed full of local news about Westbury, its schools, clubs, organisations and people — the stated content mix of the title. Town and parish council business, planning applications, school achievements, sports results, charity events and community announcements all find a place in its pages, alongside advertising from the local businesses that fund it. The overarching aim of the newspaper, in its own words, is to bring local, quality, balanced and unbiased news to the community.
Why the White Horse News matters
The White Horse News matters because it is the only newspaper that reaches every home in Westbury and its surrounding villages, free of charge and every fortnight. In rural communities such as Bratton, Dilton Marsh, Edington and Erlestoke, where paid-for titles may never be bought, the paper is often the sole printed record of local life. As part of a family-owned independent group that has spent more than four decades publishing community newspapers in west Wiltshire, it represents a model of local journalism that has survived by staying close to its readers.
