Redundant MEN Media staff back in business with newspaper launch against old company

Redundant MEN Media newspaper staff are launching new titles against their old employer.

HoldtheFrontPage reports that the five staff, who all worked for MEN Media in the North West, have teamed-up to launch a series of new free monthly titles in the Greater Manchester area. They include two former editors and an editorial director.

The first new title, the Rochdale and Heywood Independent, is due to be available for pick-up at supermarkets, libraries and other locations from the week commencing 25 January.
It will go into direct competition against MEN Media-owned weekly the Rochdale Observer and will be followed by a title for Middleton and North Manchester in February and papers for other, as yet undisclosed, areas thereafter.
The new company 'PIP Media' comprises: Richard Catlow, formerly editorial director of MEN Media's weeklies, ex-Accrington Observer editor Mervyn Kay, former Stockport Express editor Mandy Leigh as well as commercial staff Kath Fielding and Brent Armistead.
Mervyn Kay told HTFP: "We weren't happy with MEN Media's policy of closing the branch offices and moving everything into Deansgate, in Manchester. We were just sitting around with our redundancy money and not much to do. Hopefully, it is the right time. We have newspapers in our blood and wanted to have a go at it."