The Yorkshire Post

File:Yorkshire Evening Post buildings.jpg

The paper was founded in 1754, as the Leeds Intelligencer, making it one of Britain's first daily newspapers. The Leeds Intelligencer was a weekly newspaper until it was purchased by a group of Conservatives in 1865 who set up the Yorkshire Conservative Newspaper Company Limited then published daily under the current name.{{cite book|last=Caunce|first=Stephen|title=Leeds City Business|editor1-first=John|editor1-last=Chartres|editor2-first=Katrina|editor2-last=Honeyman|editor2-link=Katrina Honeyman|publisher=Leeds University Press|year=1993|pages=[https://archive.org/details/leedscitybusines0000unse/page/24 24–56]|chapter=Yorkshire Post Newspapers Ltd: Perseverance rewarded|isbn=0-85316-157-7|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/leedscitybusines0000unse/page/24}}

The first issue of The Yorkshire Post, on 2 July 1866, included the following statement:

{{centered pull quote|the political principles of this journal are Conservative; while supporting every practical improvement, it will resist organic changes ... It will be at once conservative and progressive, a foe to democracy and revolution, but the firm friend of all constitutional reform.|||The Yorkshire Post, 2 July 1866{{cite book|last=Caunce|first=Stephen|title=Leeds City Business|editor=John Chartres and Katrina Honeyman|publisher=Leeds University Press|year=1993|page=[https://archive.org/details/leedscitybusines0000unse/page/28 28]|chapter=Yorkshire Post Newspapers Ltd: Perseverance rewarded|isbn=0-85316-157-7|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/leedscitybusines0000unse/page/28}}

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The newspaper broke the story of the Edward VIII abdication crisis under the editorship of Arthur Mann.{{cite news|last=Sweney|first=Mark|title=Yorkshire Post publisher scraps editors' posts on regional papers|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2012/apr/13/yorkshire-post-publisher-scraps-editors|access-date=15 April 2012|newspaper=The Guardian|date=14 April 2012|location=London}} In 1939, The Yorkshire Post absorbed a rival, the Leeds Mercury, which was founded in 1718 and was liberal in comparison to the Leeds Intelligencer from the late 18th century, and under the editorship of Edward Baines and his son (also named Edward Baines).{{cite book|editor1-last=Brake|editor1-first=Laurel|editor2-last=Demoor|editor2-first=Marysa|title=Dictionary of nineteenth-century journalism in Great Britain and Ireland|date=2009|publisher=Academia Press|location=Gent|isbn=9789038213408|page=354}} At its peak in the 1950s, The Yorkshire Post sold 120,000 copies a day. This figure had dropped to 40,000 by 2012, rising to nearer 90,000 on a weekend. By the second half of 2017, it was selling less than 22,000 copies a day,{{cite news | url=https://www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk/2018/news/jp-dailies-post-circulation-rises-as-abc-figures-unveiled/| title= JP dailies post circulation rises as ABC figures unveiled | first=Paul |last=Linford |work=HoldTheFrontPage |location=UK | access-date=8 March 2018 | date= 1 March 2018}} and circulation further declined to just 18,534 for the period January to June 2019. As well as publishing regular supplements on sport, rural affairs, culture and motoring it runs an extensive business section with two weekly pull-out supplements.

In 2012, as its parent company Johnston Press sought to cut costs, it was merged with the Yorkshire Evening Post – the local newspaper for the Leeds city region - with the then editor, Peter Charlton, overseeing both titles. The merger saw the formation of combined departments for news, business, sport and features – with correspondents writing for both titles.

In February 2012 Johnston Press announced that printing of the Yorkshire Post and Yorkshire Evening Post in Leeds would be switched to their plant at Dinnington near Sheffield and the Leeds printing facility closed.

In September 2013, it was announced the Wellington Street premises would be demolished. Journalists had already vacated the building. Preliminary demolition began in March 2014, while in April 2014 it was announced the tower would be spared.

In March 2014, 'The' was reintroduced on the name of the paper after 46 years.{{cite web|url=http://www.johnstonpress.co.uk/media/product-news/yorkshire-post-reinstates-after-46-year-absence |title=Yorkshire Post Reinstates 'The' After 46-year Absence |publisher=Johnston Press |date=10 March 2014 |access-date=31 March 2014}}

The Yorkshire Post achieved wider attention during the 2019 general election campaign, following the publication of a story about a boy being treated on the floor of Leeds General Infirmary which was published by sister title the Yorkshire Evening Post. The papers faced criticism on social media and in correspondence from readers, and editor James Mitchinson wrote an open letter to a reader defending the titles and their journalism.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000fgsc|title=BBC Radio 4 - The Media Show, Fake news, strong views, Yorkshire and me|website=BBC|access-date=5 March 2020}}{{cite web|url=https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/politics/do-not-believe-stranger-social-media-who-disappears-night-open-letter-our-editor-you-1746000|title='Do not believe a stranger on social media who disappears into the night' - An open letter from our editor to you|newspaper=Yorkshire Post|access-date=5 March 2020}}

Adapted from the official website:"[https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/in-the-editor-s-chair-1-2546051 In the editor's chair]", Yorkshire Post, 2 July 2004

• 1754: Griffith Wright
• 1785: Thomas Wright
• 1805: Griffith Wright Jr
• 1819: William Cooke Stafford
• 1822: Alaric Watts
• 1842: W. T. Bolland
• 1848: Christopher Kemplay
• 1866: John R. K. Ralph
• 1882: Charles Pebody
• 1890: H. J. Palmer
• 1903: J. S. R. Phillips
• 1920: Arthur Mann
• 1939: Linton Andrews
• 1961: Kenneth Young
• 1964: J. Edward Crossley
• 1969: John Edwards
• 1989: Tony Watson
• 2003: Rachael Campey
• 2004: Peter Charlton
• 2013: Jeremy Clifford
• 2015: James Mitchinson

• Keith Waterhouse (1929–2009), author of Billy Liar{{cite web |last=Hutchinson |first=Andrew |date=27 February 2020 |title=Blue plaque honour for acclaimed Leeds-born writer Keith Waterhouse |url=https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/heritage-and-retro/heritage/blue-plaque-honour-for-acclaimed-leeds-born-writer-keith-waterhouse-2000378 |access-date=24 July 2024 |website=Yorkshire Evening Post}}
• Barbara Taylor Bradford (born 1933), author of A Woman of Substance{{cite news |last=Maclure |first=Abbey |date=20 November 2021 |title=Barbara Taylor Bradford: How the best-selling Leeds author launched her extraordinary career at the Yorkshire Evening Post |url=https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/people/barbara-taylor-bradford-obe-on-launching-her-extraordinary-career-at-the-yep-3460327 |access-date=24 July 2024 |work=Yorkshire Evening Post}}

{{Reflist}}

• Merrill, John C. and Harold A. Fisher. The world's great dailies: profiles of fifty newspapers (1980) pp. 366–72

• [http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/findhelprestype/news/concisehistbritnews/britnews18th/large14075.html British Library picture of the Leedes Intelligencer 19 May 1761]

{{UK regional daily newspapers}}

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Category:Newspapers published in Yorkshire

Category:Mass media in Leeds

Category:Publications established in 1754

Category:1754 establishments in England

Category:Daily newspapers published in the United Kingdom

Category:Newspapers published by Johnston Press

Category:Yorkshire Post Newspapers