The war of the Yorkshire Sundays has heated up with the first of the new papers, a Westminster Press title, launching yesterday.
The Yorkshire on Sunday was brought to our attention at the end of June, with the announcement of David Sullivan’s Sunday paper, the News and Echo, coming within days. There is also speculation that the Yorkshire Post will be forced to join the battle and launch a Sunday title of its own.
The emergence of YoS was heralded by £750,000 of publicity, but the News and Echo has stolen the show with a £4m promotional fanfare. The launch issue of Yorkshire on Sunday was a 72-page tabloid with a very prominant logo, complete with Yorkshire Rose, and bands carrying the name of the paper displayed on every page.
Colour is a prominent feature throughout the paper, with 14 pages carrying full colour. There is an abundance of full page advertisements, the main advertisers being Nissan, Halifax, Yorkshire Bank and Dunnes Stores.
As promised in the run-up to the launch there is great emphasis placed on sport, with a 20-page pullout section giving details of all aspects of local sports, profiles of football teams in the region and a couple of pages dealing with national and international sport at the back.
Other main features include a rather colourful fashion section, theatre, arts,and food & drink. There is quite a regional feel to the paper, with sections such as “My Yorkshire” and the opinions pages which claim “We intend to be the Voice of Yorkshire. That is a proud boast… it is our avowed aim to take up the cudgels on behalf of the county.” Although the main leaning of the paper is obviously a regional one the general layout and style tend to suggest a mid-market national.
The layout is cramped and it seems as if editor, Mike Glover, took all the aspects that one would expect to find in a Sunday paper and crammed them into 72 pages, with local and international news back to back.
In Glovers opening comment he says “We believe that this is the Sunday newspaper the whole of Yorkshire has been waiting for.” David Sullivan will obviously be hoping otherwise. YoS: 0274 735555
