Windsor Express
The Windsor Express is a free weekly newspaper serving the Berkshire town of Windsor and the surrounding villages of the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, including Ascot, Eton, Sunningdale, Datchet and Dedworth. Published every Friday by the independent family-owned publisher Baylis Media, it forms one half of the Slough and Windsor Express series alongside the Slough Express. With roots that stretch back to 1812, it is one of the oldest newspaper titles still in circulation in the Thames Valley.
The Express at a glance
The Windsor edition is the Windsor, Ascot & Eton Express, published as a tabloid free weekly. It is delivered free to households across its patch and is also sold on news stands. The Express series traces its origins to 1812, making it one of the longest-running newspaper titles in Berkshire. Today it sits within Baylis Media Ltd — now operating as Baylis Community Media CIC — the independent publisher based at Newspaper House, 48 Bell Street, Maidenhead, which also publishes the Maidenhead Advertiser, the Slough & South Bucks Express and the Henley Standard. In common with the rest of the group, the Express is owned not by a national conglomerate but by the Louis Baylis (Maidenhead Advertiser) Charitable Trust, which ploughs at least 80 per cent of the company's operating profits back into charities and good causes in the communities the newspapers cover. The group employs around 85 people, with editorial the largest department.
A newspaper since 1812
The Express's lineage goes back more than two centuries. According to the title's own published history, the newspaper began life in 1812 and passed through several hands and titles in its early decades. In 1880 the cover price was reduced to one penny, and by 1910 the titles being published from the High Street included the Windsor and Eton and Slough Express, the Berks, Bucks, Surrey and Middlesex Journal and the Ascot and District Advertiser, under the proprietorship of Stanley Frederick Oxley of the Oxley family. In 1940 the newspaper became the Windsor, Slough and Eton Express, priced at threepence and running to eight pages, printed in Bachelor's Acre and High Street, Windsor, and at 12 High Street, Slough. It is a lineage that has survived railways, two world wars and the digital revolution.
The split of 1960 and the modern editions
In 1960 the combined title separated into the two editions recognised today: the Windsor and Eton Express and the Slough Express. At the time each cost four pence and ran to 32 pages, and the first colour pictures appeared in the papers, with the Slough office opening at 57 High Street. The papers were published by the Windsor News Group in Madeira Walk in 1980, and in 2000 they were taken over by Trinity Newspapers. The Windsor edition of today serves Windsor itself and the surrounding area — Ascot, Sunningdale, Datchet, Dedworth, Eton and Wraysbury — while the Slough edition reaches Iver, Colnbrook, Chalvey, Langley, Britwell, Cippenham, Upton and Farnham Common. Some content is shared across the editions and with sister titles, and both newspapers are published on Fridays.
Baylis Media and the charitable trust
On 7 April 2008 the Maidenhead Advertiser bought the Slough and Windsor Express series from Berkshire Media Group, a subsidiary of Dunfermline Press, bringing the titles under the umbrella of what is now Baylis Media. The Express titles had been published since 1812 and had been converted from paid-for to free titles under the previous owner, Trinity Mirror; they were disposed of in the wake of a competition agreement surrounding Dunfermline Press's acquisition of the Trinity Mirror newspapers. At the time of the deal the Express titles had a distribution of approximately 49,000 copies. The Maidenhead Advertiser, founded in 1869, was described at the time as Berkshire's biggest-selling paid-for weekly, selling 23,450 copies a week. Baylis and Co's chairman and chief executive Jeremy Spooner called the Express titles "a perfect fit" for the business, noting that the Windsor Express serves the other half of the same Royal Borough as the Maidenhead Advertiser, and described it as the biggest expansion the company had ever undertaken. Baylis Media is unusual among regional publishers in that it is owned by a charitable trust established by former editor and proprietor Louis Baylis in the 1960s to safeguard the paper's independence and tradition of public service; members of the Baylis family remain involved in the running of the company, with two fifth-generation members on its board of directors.
Distribution and coverage area
The Windsor Express is delivered free to households across its circulation area in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead and is also sold on stands for 60p. The combined circulation of the two Express editions stood at about 44,000. The publisher's annual statement to IPSO covering January to December 2025 reported an audited circulation figure of 4,914 for the Express series under the free-distribution model, alongside the Henley Standard's 5,661 and the Maidenhead Advertiser's 2,446 paid. The group's newspapers cover East Berkshire, South Bucks and South Oxfordshire, including the main towns of Maidenhead, Slough, Windsor and Henley. In November 2010 the Express closed its premises in Slough's Ipswich Road and consolidated at the Advertiser's offices in Maidenhead.
The digital edition and readership
The Windsor Express publishes digitally at windsorexpress.co.uk, one of the group's companion websites alongside maidenheadadvertiser.co.uk, sloughexpress.co.uk, henleystandard.co.uk and henleylife.co.uk. According to Baylis Media's IPSO annual statement for 2025, the Windsor Express website attracts an average of 21,794 unique users per month, while the Slough Express site averages 25,946. In 2019 Baylis Media became the first local newspaper group to introduce a pay-as-you-go scheme for online readers, launched in partnership with Agate Systems. The scheme charges 20p to read an individual article, with anyone spending 60p over the course of a week able to read all the sites free for the rest of that week. Chief executive Jeremy Spooner said readers want high-quality news focused on what matters most to them locally, and that paying a fair price for premium articles — with 80 per cent of any profits ploughed back into local charity initiatives — would sustain quality journalism such as weekly news for villages and businesses, in-depth sports interviews, extended council meeting coverage, Q&As with key figures and opinion columns.
Free Weekly Newspaper of the Year
The Slough and Windsor Express series was named Free Weekly Newspaper of the Year at the Regional Press Awards for 2018, celebrated at a ceremony at the IET, Savoy Place in central London on 17 May 2019. The Express, printing the Slough and South Bucks Express and the Windsor, Ascot and Eton Express editions, faced competition in the category from the Camden New Journal, the Islington Tribune, the St Helens Star, The Jewish News and the Yellow Advertiser. The Express submitted three editions, including coverage of the royal wedding, four pages on homelessness in the Royal Borough and coverage of a bird flu outbreak in Windsor. The judges noted that the winner's coverage of two royal weddings and a visit by US President Donald Trump had put it in the international spotlight, and observed that it was owned by a charitable trust that puts 80 per cent of its profits back into the community it serves. Editor James Preston, group news editor Grace Witherden and senior reporter David Lee attended the ceremony. Preston said the team was incredibly proud to win the award after a huge year for news in Slough, Windsor and the surrounding areas.
Editorial standards and regulation
Baylis Media's titles are regulated under the IPSO framework, with the group's publisher's responsible person listed as James Preston, Group Editor. The company's stated editorial policy requires independent verification of facts for all stories produced by reporting staff, and for print, copy passes through copy-tasting, subbing and proofreading before publication, with reporters instructed to clarify or correct outstanding queries before proceeding. The Express series shares editorial resources with the group's other titles while maintaining its own identity for the Windsor, Ascot and Eton patch.
A royal town's newspaper
Windsor, dominated by Windsor Castle, is the largest royal town in the Royal Borough, and the Express has covered its civic and community life for generations — from council affairs and local planning rows to schools, sport and the borough's villages. The title's coverage of royal events, including the 2018 wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, formed part of the award-winning portfolio that secured its Regional Press Award. Through free doorstep delivery and its website, the paper reaches readers across one of the most closely watched local news patches in England.
Why the Windsor Express matters
The Windsor Express matters because it represents a rare model in British local journalism: a free weekly owned by a charitable trust, published by a family-run independent rather than a national group, with deep roots in a single community going back more than two centuries. At a time when local newspapers are closing across the country, the Express continues to publish in print every Friday and online every day, funded by a mix of advertising, newsstand sales and its pioneering pay-as-you-go digital model, with the trust structure ensuring that profits serve the community first.
