‘A sad day for Downpatrick’ as local paper closes

One of Ireland’s oldest newspapers, the Down Recorder, has ceased publication after 189 years.

The weekly newspaper, based in Downpatrick, began printing in 1836.

The owner Marcus Crichton confirmed the final edition of the paper was published on Wednesday.

He said the newspaper industry was experiencing “difficult times.”

Local man Trevor Love, from Downpatrick, who “always” reads the Down Recorder says it’s “a pity”.

He said: “It is sad it’s happened but these things happen in life now,” adding: “Everybody picks [news] up on the phone now”.

Mr Love says he knows many people who’ve worked for the paper over the years.

“It’d be very sad if they just found out today. The people should have been told long before this.”

“I am very disappointed by the news.”

The Social Democratic and Labour Party’s (SDLP’s) MLA for the area said it was a “sad day for Downpatrick”.

Colin McGrath told BBC News NI the paper was “an institution that has provided news and community updates for the local area and people will really miss that weekly update but I do think it is a reflection of the times.”

“People are no longer purchasing papers. They are going online to get their information and I think that that just means we lose a little part of our community whenever these publications close down,” he said.

However he added that there was “absolutely a place for the print media”.

“This will obviously be a blow for those staff members that will only have heard at short notice that this is happening.”

“It’s one of the oldest newspapers on these islands and it is just sad that that will no longer be there.”

Cormac Campbell, BBC News NI south-east reporter

The closure of the Down Recorder is the latest example of the challenges faced by the local newspaper industry.

Family owned and committed to quality output, the paper went from being named newspaper of the year in 2014 to closing little more than a decade later.

To the end it was breaking original stories and ably covering the towns and villages of south east Down.

Its challenges were micro and macro – a declining industry faced with changing online habits as well as the impact of COVID lockdowns will have taken a toll on sales and advertising revenue.

Its loss will be felt in many ways. As well as a gap in news coverage the Recorder building itself is one of the most prominent in the Downpatrick.

Sitting on the main access route into the town it’s located immediately beside the Arts Centre, courthouse, cathedral and main shopping streets – the very things that helped fuel its output for 189 years.

Readers and staff will be hoping that a similar resolution to what happened across the Mournes in Newry in 2023 can be arrived at.

After announcing it was to close, the Newry Reporter was bought over, moved premises and still remains in print.

A similar scenario here would mean this is a case of holding the front page rather than stopping the presses.