'Irish Post' closes.

Subject: 'Irish Post' closes.
From: GUEST,Chris B (Born Again Scouser)
Date: 23 Aug 11 - 07:13 AM

From the 'Irish Times':

THE BIGGEST-SELLING Irish community newspaper in Britain, the Irish Post , ceased trading and went into liquidation yesterday, with the loss of 12 full-time staff jobs.

Last Wednesday's publication was the newspaper's final issue.

Its owner, Thomas Crosbie Holdings (TCH), announced the decision yesterday to close the publication because it had been loss-making for at least five years.

Established in 1970 by Clare-born journalist Breandán Mac Lua and accountant Tony Beatty, the newspaper was considered critical in giving the Irish in Britain a voice and also helped to forge a sense of collective identity. The newspaper, which had a mission statement of "If it's Irish in Britain, we've got it covered", reported on local GAA and sport and news affecting the Irish diaspora in Britain as well as entertainment and gigs.

It was described as a "cornerstone for the Irish community in Britain" by Ambrose Gordon, a reader and advertiser for the last 40 years. "There is a real need for the Irish Post now more then ever because more and more people are emigrating from Ireland to Britain. I'm absolutely shocked and just can't understand why it's gone into liquidation."

Michael Roche, an advertiser and contributor, said: "It made a lasting contribution to the Irish community in Britain from both a commercial and social perspective."

The paper's long history came to a finish when TCH requested all employees attend a staff meeting yesterday morning with the company's chief executive of regional newspapers, Dan Linehan. At the meeting, Mr Linehan said the decision had been taken to close the newspaper with immediate effect as it was not making enough money and was therefore no longer profitable.

"Staff were not expecting to be told that the newspaper was closing and didn't think anything of it when asked to attend the meeting. We're really shocked," said one staff member.

Mr Linehan, chief executive of regional newspapers at TCH, said the decision to close was taken as a result of the severe economic downturn and significantly reduced advertising revenues.

"I would like to pay tribute to the hard work and commitment of the staff at the Irish Post. They have been part of our group for eight years and they have tried very hard to make the newspaper work," he said. "Regrettably, persistent trading losses and the current economic climate have made the title unsustainable."

The newspaper was acquired by Thomas Crosbie Holdings, publisher of the Examiner and the Sunday Business Post , in 2003 for £1.7 million from Jefferson Smurfit. It had an ABC-audited circulation of more than 31,400 copies at the time of its takeover but this fell to 17,100. The paper was popular in areas with large Irish populations such as London, Manchester and Birmingham. It traditionally received major advertising from Irish-based companies.

Subject: RE: 'Irish Post' closes.
From: GUEST,Chris B (Born Again Scouser)
Date: 23 Aug 11 - 07:57 AM

Probably wants to go below the line, I suppose.

Subject: RE: 'Irish Post' closes.
From: Bonnie Shaljean
Date: 23 Aug 11 - 09:28 AM

Aaahhhhh, NO!!! The Post was one of my regular reads when I lived in Kilburn. Internet did 'em in I suppose...

:-(

Subject: RE: 'Irish Post' closes.
From: katlaughing
Date: 23 Aug 11 - 10:37 AM

That is sad to hear. So many newspapers have gone under. Here, in Colorado, we lost the Rocky Mountain News after 150 years in publication. I have a copy of an article from 1890 about my great-granddad in a shoot-out with a neighbour who died. There was a lot of history in the pages of that paper. Early days in Colorado.

Maybe someone else will step in to provide the same The Irish Post did?

kat

Subject: RE: 'Irish Post' closes.
From: Bonnie Shaljean
Date: 23 Aug 11 - 11:38 AM

Would love to believe that, LadyKat - but I'm afraid the writing is pretty much on the wall for printed newspapers. They're dying like flies. They just can't compete with the web, especially for updatable things and last-minute events that miss a press deadline.

So sorry to hear about Rocky Mountain News too - I would have loved the history parts. The Oregonian (which I used to read when I visited my mum there) was always great with stuff like that, and probably still is. (They ran Matt Groening's strip long before The Simpsons were even a collective twinkle.) A terrific paper.. subtext, long may they continue...

Anyway, I think the Post has probably been supplanted with assorted websites. But it's not the same, is it? One of the treats of my life were the clippings my mum used to send across the sea to me from the Oregonian (and before that, and San Fran Chronicle). How can emigrants' mums do that now? It was always a taste of Home. Easy to forget that the passing of an outdated format also signals the end of much else too.

Subject: RE: 'Irish Post' closes.
From: GUEST,Chris B (Born Again Scouser)
Date: 24 Aug 11 - 05:04 AM

I'm sure the internet has had an effect, Bonnie, but I don't think it's the only reason. A friend of mine has been working on setting up a website to do some of the job of the listings and classified sections of papers like the 'Irish Post' but it's still getting off the ground. Funding has been part of the issue, as well as less interest from businesses than might have been expected. I don't have the link handy or I'd include it.

It is hard, however, for a print newspaper to make money. The circulation of the 'Post' has dropped by nearly half in less than ten years. I suspect that a lot of it is down to the fact that the Irish in Britain are now an established, settled, integrated and in many cases very successful community and many of them aren't that interested in the sort of stories that have been a staple of the paper's copy for many years. Maybe being 'Irish' means something different to second-generation Irish people in Britain by comparison with whatever it may have meant to the people who published the paper. I don't know.

It's a pity, though. Now the only Irish paper left in Britain is the 'Irish World', which for a long time, I thought, was very inferior to the 'Post', though it has got better in recent years - largely because the same people write for both papers.

Subject: RE: 'Irish Post' closes.
From: Bonnie Shaljean
Date: 24 Aug 11 - 06:07 AM

Good points, Chris. In the areas of London I remember, much of the "Irish community" has now grown up and moved on, becoming integrated and diverse. Old identities have to share space with all the newer influences, so they don't have so strong a hold. I suppose that generation is going to be less interested in having its own newspaper because there's less of a unified "voice" for it to reflect.

I noticed that when I went back to visit the area in London where I had lived (between Kilburn & Cricklewood, nicely equidistant from the National* and Galtymore ballrooms), after not setting foot in it for 20 years, there were not a lot of Irish left, and those that remained were mainly the older population. It has another ethnic stamp now, and many of the old Irish landmark hangouts in that area are gone, even if the buildings themselves still stand.

R.I.P. The Irish Post - another part of the past has died.



*The National is now an evangelical church (with guys in suits who stand outside beside the door and "greet" people as they pass by) and Biddy Mulligan's pub - one of the best Sunday morning sessions in London, for my money - has been converted into flats by some offshore development company.

Subject: RE: 'Irish Post' closes.
From: GUEST,Chris B (Born Again Scouser)
Date: 24 Aug 11 - 09:30 AM

I know what you mean about North London, Bonnie. Before I moved up north I was an inspector for the Contributions Agency in that part of town. It had changed even from the early 90s, when the band I was in (Ti-Fer) used to play in the Black Lion (which was another great Irish-run music venue on Kilburn High Road). Mind you, in the mid-late 80s a lot of the action on the music front moved to the West London area. At that time a lot of young Irish people arrived in London - unlike the earlier generation who came on the boat and train into Euston most of them flew into Heathrow and a lot of them settled around Hounslow, Brentford, Southall, Ealing and so on. There were also a lot of young Irish student teachers at colleges like Maria Grey in Isleworth and St Mary's in Twickenham. Some great musicians amongst them like Teresa Heanue and Brendan Ring. After a while, though, a lot of them like Donna Harkin (great button box player and highly respected teacher from Donegal) and Roisin Harrigan a wonderful fiddle player - you'll probably know them) went home.

Brentford's still pretty lively, I'm told.

Subject: RE: 'Irish Post' closes.
From: Bonnie Shaljean
Date: 24 Aug 11 - 10:25 AM

Glad to hear it! I was there from 1977-1987 (just off the wonderfully-named Shoot-Up Hill) and went back for my visit in 2008. Twenty-one years, the time it takes for a child to legally become an adult.

Some of the people I played with in Biddy's have gone on to become names in the trad scene here - not huge ones like Lunny, Gavin & Co but you hear them on RnaG, TnaG, & the folkie shows. I suppose the "scene" moves around and changes, just like the rest of life.

Subject: RE: 'Irish Post' closes.
From: GUEST,Chris B (Born Again Scouser)
Date: 24 Aug 11 - 11:16 AM

'Twenty-one years, the time it takes for a child to legally become an adult'.

Ah, yes, but it takes a lot longer for a musician to grow up.

Subject: RE: 'Irish Post' closes.
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 25 Aug 11 - 09:53 AM

A great shame.

One thing is that Irish papers from back home tend to be available these days even in many supermarkets.

Subject: RE: 'Irish Post' closes.
From: katlaughing
Date: 25 Aug 11 - 11:44 PM

Bonnie, last I read, in 2009, the Colorado Historical Society was negotiating with the company that shut down the Rocky Mtn. News, to get all of its historical archives, plus other ephemera. It's a lot of fun, educational, and historical to poke around in what the CHS already has at their Colorado Historic Newspapers online archive.

Subject: RE: 'Irish Post' closes.
From: Bonnie Shaljean
Date: 26 Aug 11 - 05:04 AM

Wow! Cheers, Kat - what a goldmine . . .   just lemme get my coffee . . .



[Work???? What's that...?]

Subject: RE: 'Irish Post' closes.
From: GUEST,Bluesman
Date: 26 Aug 11 - 05:34 AM

It is a paper that belongs in the last century. I doubt very much that any young Irish person living and working in London wants to read about "Big Teasie meeting a tall dark Yank along a mountain road in Kerry" or what day of the week the town market is held in "Bally go bog."

There is another one, "Irelands Own", the guy I lived with in Fulham used to buy it, Christ it was full of ghost stories, worshipping saints and ole yarns from the rocks of Donegal.

I imagine the days of the local priests in Ireland ruling the towns or villages with fear and respect are long gone.

Clearly there wasn't enough red headed colleens interested in mass schedules and burley strapping young men with shovels walking the streets of England willing to buy it.

Subject: RE: 'Irish Post' closes.
From: Bonnie Shaljean
Date: 26 Aug 11 - 07:00 AM

A lot of it concerned things that were happening IN Britain as they affected the Irish community, rather than in Ireland itself. I used to read it for the trad music what's-on content, and liked the songs in Ireland's Own (I have an old issue from the 1920s which I found stuck inside a harmonium of all places - a real trip back in time). But you can get songs & info elsewhere now, at the click of a button.

Yes, the days of cliché-Ireland are long gone (even if, after a brief burst of squandered "prosperity" the days of financial challenge and emigration aren't) but I don't think that was ever the main selling point of the IP. Apart from music, it was also a useful communication tool for local issues - "the voice of the Irish in Britain (and those, like me, who lived in their community did not come from Ireland). But yes, its day has passed.

Subject: RE: 'Irish Post' closes.
From: GUEST,Chris B (Born Again Scouser)
Date: 26 Aug 11 - 08:06 AM

I think you're right, Bonnie. The 'Post' did try and deal with issues relevant to the Irish community in Britain as well as stories from 'home'. I think, though, that the readership was itself very stuck in the past. The letters pages certainly seemed to indicate that. I think the current and upcoming generation doesn't feel nearly the same need to self-segregate as my parents' generation did (though my parents themselves didn't).

Case in point: a couple of years ago the Liverpool Irish Festival commissioned a crew to make a short film about the Irish in Liverpool using kids from the Liverpool branch of CCE. At the first meeting, they asked the kids to talk about Patrick Pearse, the GPO, the Famine and all the regular motifs of first-generation Irish history. Most of the kids just gave them a blank stare. Twenty years ago I would have been dismayed. Now I'm not - if they're dumping some of the baggage that's maybe a good thing.

Personally, I think they knew all about those subjects but just weren't letting on. Teenagers hate putting their hands up.

There's the rub, though - in England, Irish culture in its orthodox form still rests heavily on an assumption of victimhood and I don't think the 'Post' was ever really able to get away from that. My parents came to England during the war and throughout their lives here were treated with kindness, friendship and generosity by the English people they lived and worked amongst for over 50 years. I'm sure their experience was by no means unique - but sometimes you'd never have guessed if from reading the 'Post'.

Subject: RE: 'Irish Post' closes.
From: Bonnie Shaljean
Date: 26 Aug 11 - 08:30 AM

> My parents came to England during the war and throughout their lives here were treated with kindness, friendship and generosity by the English people they lived and worked amongst for over 50 years.

Packie (who arrived in 1937) said exactly those same things, almost word for word.

But at what point does remembering (i.e. learning about) The Famine, Pearse and the other figures from the past become differentiated from the dumping of baggage? (And I know exactly what you mean.) But can tell you, it isn't only the kids abroad that give you blank stares (or embarrassed I'll-act-like-I-know-what-you're-talking-about smiles) when they hear the familiar names. You get it here too. I'm still in the dismayed stage. And I wasn't even born here. I am however a great respecter of the importance of history generally. It's society's memory and teacher.

Subject: RE: 'Irish Post' closes.
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 26 Aug 11 - 08:53 AM

Someone play "The Last Post"
for "The Irish Post" ?

Subject: RE: 'Irish Post' closes.
From: GUEST,Chris B (Born Again Scouser)
Date: 26 Aug 11 - 09:23 AM

I was just thinking about the question of how other papers that serve particular communities have been doing. I heard somewhere that the 'Voice', which services the Black community, had had financial problems as well. Are young West Indians also becoming cut off from their roots or (as I suspect is the case with the Irish community) are they re-defining for themselves what it means for their generation?

I suppose if you're a kid from a West Indian family and your parents take you back to the old country for the school holidays, at least you can count on some decent weather.

Subject: RE: 'Irish Post' closes.
From: Bonnie Shaljean
Date: 13 Nov 11 - 03:25 AM

The gospel according to IrishCentral.com:

http://www.irishcentral.com/story/news/periscope/a-good-news-story-an-irish-news

Subject: RE: 'Irish Post' closes.
From: Bonnie Shaljean
Date: 13 Nov 11 - 03:31 AM

Erm... I'm sorry, I'll read that again, sans clickie. Try copy-pasting:

http://www.irishcentral.com/story/news/periscope/a-good-news-story-an-irish-newspaper-that-would-not-die---the-irish-post-rises-again-from-the-ashes-in-london-133762973.html

And if that won't float yer boat, just click on the story title right below the "page not found" notice, which will take you to it.

Subject: RE: 'Irish Post' closes.
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 13 Nov 11 - 03:11 PM

I used to like the Irish post. It had interesting book reviews and music reviews and articles. Stuff you didn't see anywhere else. Also it had some good deals on the ferry.

I used to wonder why it never wrote about anyone I knew. Loads of pictures of the mayor of somewhere having a nosh up with his mates, and endless ones of children doing irish dancing.

It was rather old fashioned - you felt the people being written about in Hot Press were on another continent - somewhere in the future. How come the people reading the Irish Post had no need of the exotic sexual services advertised in Hot Press - were they refusing to take 'unsavoury' adverts. Anyway less and less people were advertising in it - at one time you could look for bed and breakfast in Ireland in the IRISH pOST - but hardly anyone was advertising stuff in the end.

The contacts adverts were a hoot - it should have had a sub heading - I want to meet (but definitely no funny business!)

Subject: RE: 'Irish Post' closes.
From: GUEST,Chris B (Born Again Scouser)
Date: 14 Nov 11 - 11:04 AM

Good to see the 'Post' back. Being off the stands for a few weeks doesn't seem to have hurt it. Fingers crossed.

Subject: RE: 'Irish Post' closes.
From: Bonnie Shaljean
Date: 14 Nov 11 - 12:10 PM

> The staff of the Irish Post, instead of taking the closure lying down, hit back saying they believed the newspaper was still solvent and profitable, and had been abandoned by its owners because their attention was elsewhere, on their troubled Irish properties.


"Their attention [and money too, I bet] was on their troubled Irish properties."

Why am I not surprised?

Subject: RE: 'Irish Post' closes.
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 15 Nov 11 - 07:12 AM

I guess it was that scoop about Sidcup's Rose of Tralee entrant being an ex Roman Catholic priest.

They just had to hold the front page.

(PS What made the judges eyes moisten was when he/she explained the career choice in childcare, I believe he's made the final!

watch this space - the Irish Post will be first with the story!