Southport Visiter

"The Visiter" redirects here. For the Morecambe newspaper, see The Visitor (newspaper).
Southport Visiter
TypeWeekly newspaper
Owner(s)Reach plc
Founded1844
Circulation912 (as of 2023)[1]
Websitesouthportvisiter.co.uk

The Southport Visiter is a weekly paid-for print newspaper covering Southport, Merseyside, England. It was founded in 1844 as a single sheet listing visitors to the seaside town.[2] It is now owned by Reach Regionals, formerly Trinity Mirror,[3] and in 2018 it was announced that its website would merge with that of the Liverpool Echo, with the distinct printed product continuing.[4][5]

The paper was published from premises in Lord Street in Southport until 1889 when it moved to Tulketh Street. After printing ceased in Southport the building was larger than needed, and for part of 2010 the ground floor was occupied by Southport Library. In 2014 it was announced that staff would move to a new "digital hub" on Lord Street, the street where the newspaper had begun.[6] In July 2018 it was reported that the empty premises in Tulketh Street had been vandalised, and that staff were not working at the Lord Street premises but were based in Liverpool.[7]

Former editors of the Southport Visiter included Alan Pinch and John Dempsey.[8]

On April Fools' Day 2016 the paper published a hoax announcement that it would be changing the spelling of its name to Visitor, and a later retraction.[9]

In 1996 the Press Complaints Commission rejected a case against the paper, brought by a man who believed it had published "intrusive amounts of detail regarding the conviction of a man for assaulting the complainant's sister-in-law".[10]

  1. ^ "Southport Visiter". Audit Bureau of Circulations (UK). 19 February 2024. Retrieved 2 March 2024.
  2. ^ "Southport Visiter Series". Liverpool City Region Local Enterprise Partnership. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
  3. ^ "Southport Visiter". Audit Bureau of Circulations. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
  4. ^ Chapman, Stephen (15 February 2018). "Southport Visiter website to merge with Liverpool Echo". Prolific North. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
  5. ^ "Southport". Echo. Retrieved 26 September 2018. Southport news is brought to you by the Visiter team.
  6. ^ Sharman, David (21 November 2014). "Weekly moves back to street where it all began". Hold the Front Page. Retrieved 19 January 2019.
  7. ^ "Abandoned Southport Visiter offices targeted by vandals". OTS News. 19 July 2018. Retrieved 19 January 2019.
  8. ^ Sharman, David (23 July 2018). "Editor who spent more than half a century in journalism dies aged 89". Hold the Front Page. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
  9. ^ Fitzsimmons, Francesca (1 April 2016). "Southport Visiter will NOT become the Visitor - Happy April Fools Day!". Southport Visiter. Retrieved 19 January 2019.
  10. ^ "Complainant name: A man; Publication: Southport Visiter". Adjudicated complaints. Press Complaints Commission. Retrieved 19 January 2019.