Stroud Times, an independent community-based news website, launches today
Stroud Times, an independent community-based news website, launches today.
Living in the community they serve, editor Ash Loveridge, journalist Matt Bigwood, and photographer Carl Hewlett have joined forces to provide free-to-view local content devoid of a clickbait agenda and pop-up adverts.
Encompassing the Stroud locality, the team is dedicated to publishing engaging human interest stories, comprehensive sports coverage, supporting and championing local businesses’ success, and leading the way with high-quality photography and video.
Ash cut his journalistic teeth at the Stroud Mercury before moving to The Citizen, he then went on to spend 18 years as sports editor of the Stroud News and Journal. Recently Ash has been working on a freelance basis for BBC Sport and Sky.
On the birth of Stroud Times, he said: “I’m delighted to launch this new venture alongside Matt and Carl and we’re extremely excited to bring something fresh to the town and the surrounding area.
“We believe there’s a need for a news website that really connects with the people it serves.”
Matt co-founded the Wotton Times with Simon Hacker in 2018, a paid-for hyperlocal newspaper covering Wotton-under-Edge and surrounding areas in Gloucestershire. He began his career in the 1980s at the Bailey Newspaper Group and has a close affinity with the town, having previously worked as a photographer for the Stroud News and Journal.
Carl also began his career at the Stroud News and Journal, working alongside Ash as the staff photographer before moving on to an agency covering news and Premiership rugby. In 2017 Carl turned freelance providing commercial photography and design services to brands across the UK and has spent time during the recent lockdown constructing the new Stroud Times website.