Tindle acquires The Forester from Northcliffe

Agreement has been reached for the ownership of The Forester, the paid-for weekly in the Forest of Dean, to be transferred to the Tindle newspaper group.

Tindle is acquiring the 130-year-old title from Gloucestershire Media, the local subsidiary of the Northcliffe Media group, and will add to the Tindle stable of more than 200 newspapers across England and Wales.

Sir Ray Tindle, group chairman (pictured), said he was delighted that the Forester was joining his group which included such titles as the Monmouthshire Beacon, the Ross Gazette and the Abergavenny Chronicle.

The nine staff members at the Forester offices at Cinderford will transfer with the business and consultations with these employees have started. Negotiations for Tindle have been led by Brian Doel, group managing director, who will be joining the board of the new company, Forester Newspapers Limited.

Tindle has a long track record of publishing local community newspapers and has launched five new titles in the past year. In many towns Tindle owns both the local paid-for and free newspapers which are run as separate businesses.

Sir Ray said that earlier gloomy predictions were quite wrong: more newspapers had been launched than closed in the UK in the last year. Michael Pelosi, managing director of Northcliffe, said he was confident that the Forester would continue to have a a bright future as part of the Tindle group.