| Type | Daily regional newspaper |
|---|---|
| Owner | Midland News Association |
| Editor | Adrian Faber |
| Founded | 1889 |
| Headquarters | Queen Street, Wolverhampton |
| Circulation | 124,480 [1] |
| Official website | www.expressandstar.com |
The Express & Star is an evening newspaper based in Wolverhampton, England, published Monday to Saturday in nine different editions covering the Black Country, Birmingham and the wider West Midlands area from Tamworth to Kidderminster. It as widely perceived as being moderately right-wing. The paper reports on sports in the region, along side the Birmingham based, Birmingham Mail.
The newspaper had a daily circulation of 124,480 in the second half of 2009,[2] making it the biggest selling regional daily paper in the UK.
The Express & Star is one of the few independent newspapers now operating in the UK having been under the continuous ownership of the Graham family almost since its inception. It is owned by the Midland News Association, which also owns the Shropshire Star newspaper.
Its associated website expressandstar.com was launched in 1997, initially as westmidlands.com. It changed its title to expressandstar.com in 2002.
The newspaper's editor is Adrian Faber.
The Chronicle series of free weekly newspapers is also produced from the newspaper's headquarters in Wolverhampton. The weekly Sporting Star, published on a Saturday, was discontinued in June 2009.
The origins of the Express & Star lie in the Evening Star – a liberal newspaper founded in Wolverhampton in 1880 as a rival to the existing conservative Evening Express, itself founded in 1874. In 1882 the Star was bought by wealthy Scottish-American philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, encouraged by his friend and fellow Dunfermline-born liberal (and by then prominent Wolverhampton councillor) Thomas Graham.
The combination of Carnegie's finance and Graham's organisational ability saw the paper flourish and within two years the Star had taken over the Express under the editorship of another Dunfermline native, editor Andrew Meikle. The combined newspaper adopted its current name in 1889.
Carnegie severed his links with the paper and its parent company the Midland News Association in 1902, leaving Graham in full control until his death in 1909. The following decades saw a steady expansion under Graham's descendents, with the paper's influence spreading out from its native Wolverhampton to cover the entire Black Country. An office in Birmingham was opened and later closed, although a Birmingham edition is still produced from Wolverhampton.
Boris Johnson once did work experience on the paper while Jeremy Clarkson wrote a motoring column for the group's Chronicle series of free newspapers.
The paper currently has a large reputation for sports (in particular association football) journalism with daily articles from Timothy Abraham, and weekly articles by Matthew Turvey.
The 21st century saw a drop in circulation and advertising revenues, in common with most other newspapers, leading to the company shedding around 50 jobs through a voluntary redundancy scheme in April 2006, with further cuts announced in January 2007. The company's West Bromwich printing plant was closed in January 2009, with the loss of 150 jobs.and printing will stop at wolverhampton in oct 2011