Pick up a popular tabloid daily or Sunday newspaper, a racing weekly or even a local title and there's a good chance it will have been printed, if not written, in Oldham.
Every week some 11 million copies roll off the presses at Mirror Colour Print’s production plant at Hollinwood, the site where Ferranti once made electricity transformers. The only time the presses are silent is on Christmas Eve.
Technology has transformed the newspaper industry since the “hot metal” era of the 1970 and 80s. Apart from making the printing processes less labour intensive, today’s “cold set” technology allows pages to be created on-screen in other locations and transmitted electronically to Oldham.
There they are made into aluminium plates before being fixed to modern colour presses capable producing 65,000 copies an hour. Another development has been the use of robotic AGVs (Automatic Guided Vehicles) to move heavy paper reels from storage hall to presses.
Mirror Colour Print (Oldham) Ltd, the printing division of the Trinity Mirror group, produces 36 titles at Hollinwood including the Daily and Sunday Mirror, The People, the two Independent titles, Scottish Daily Record, 20 titles for the Guardian Media Group including the Oldham Advertiser, five for the Birmingham Post and Mail group and three weekly racing papers.
The Mirror transferred its operations to Oldham in 1988 following the closure of its previous Northern home, Thomson House (later Maxwell House), Manchester. Printing and distributing so many titles is a major logistics exercise for the 500 Hollinwood staff, 70 per cent of whom live within the Oldham district.
Around 2000 tonnes of newsprint are trucked to the plant each week. The nearest source is Shotton in North Wales, the furthest Canada with the balance coming from Scandinavia and Finland. The nine Mann Roland presses also consume 32 tons of ink over the same period.
Papers are distributed as far as Inverness in the north and Birmingham in the south using an average of 32 vehicles a night.
Updating technology is an on-going commitment. The latest advance is the installation of a computer-to-plate (CTP) system that eliminates using negatives to produce the printing plates. The plant uses 21,000 of the plates each week, all of which are recycled.
The company periodically provides guided tours of the plant. Terry Taylor, head of customer services, says with the editorial and advertising side of many local newspapers now geographically divorced from the printing operation younger employees find the visits “a really illuminating and educational experience”.
One company that still keeps up the tradition of having editorial, production and printing co-located on the same site in the town centre is the Oldham Chronicle, a family owned business dating back to 1854.
Published five days a week with a daily circulation of 30,000 the newspaper (owned by Hirst, Kidd and Rennie) is something of an increasing rarity in that it has managed to remain a small independent. Its free Chronicle Weekend sister paper has a distribution of 89,000.
The Chronicle has generated a strong reader loyalty on the back of a lively and comprehensive local news content. It achieved fame in the 1970s by breaking the story of Louise Brown, the world’s first test tube-baby.
It also made headlines itself when the company’s premises in Union Street were fire-bombed during serious disturbances in the town in 2001 - but it still managed to publish the following day.
With more magazines per head of population than any other country Britons are avid readers of periodicals. There’s usually a title in the newsagent to suit every taste and with World's Fair located in the town Oldham can claim seven of them.
The small family-owned media business is the flip side of the publishing story. Unlike Trinity Mirror, World’s Fair runs its editorial, production and telesales operation from the Borough and has its titles printed elsewhere.
Founded by the great uncle of the present controlling shareholder, Paul Whatmore, the company had its origins in Oldham in 1904 - the year Mr. Royce met Mr. Rolls in the town - but the business started life supplying oil lamps for fairgrounds.
During his trips between various sites the owner hit on the idea of launching a weekly newspaper for showground folk. World’s Fair - the name of both the periodical and the company - is still published today and serves what is known as the “traditional” leisure market - fairgrounds, circuses, magicians and preservation groups. Celebrity steeplejack Fred Dibnah is a regular reader.
“During the 20th century there were two World Wars, the Great Depression and a printers’ strike but we missed only six issues in 98 years,” notes Paul, the finance director.
The company specialises in niche business-to-business magazines including Market Trader. For about 40 years it was producing a UK-based title called Coin Slot for world distribution but this was sold in 2000.
After a strategic review of its operations World’s Fair sold three other international titles but has since acquired Football & Stadium Management, IS Opportunities, Irish Golf World, Irish Golf Review and FM UK, which contribute to a total print run each week of 90,000 copies.
“We were perceived as being part of the amusement industry but the review made us realise we were really in the publishing business so we decided to concentrate on business titles. We are now in a healthier position and are looking at acquiring further magazines. We are looking at those niches too small for the Reeds of this world.”
Formerly based on Union Street, the company runs its operations from Hollinwood Business Centre close to the M60 where it was a founder tenant. It has invested in the latest IT technology including 100 miles of 100 megabyte fibre optic cable - one of the reasons, says Paul, why the company is still in business.
“September 11 decimated the IT market. Advertising in the specialist recruitment magazines was down 60 per cent but it produced one benefit in that we were able to acquire computer technology more cheaply than would otherwise have been the case.”
He admits to being in a “war of attrition” with the company's competitors but insists Oldham is the right place to grow the business because wage and property costs are lower. The company pays £7 per sq ft for space at Hollinwood whereas in London and the leafier areas of the South rival enterprises will be paying nearer £90 per sq ft. World's Fair employs 30 but is looking to increase that number as the business expands.