COUNTY TIMES FIRE: ‘It’s business as normal’ says editor-in-chief

“It will be business as normal,” the editor-in-chief of the County Times said this evening.

Gary Shipton said production of the company’s newspapers would not in anyway be affected by the fire which swept through the paper’s historic offices.

Although the Market Square offices are not just the headquarters of the County Times, but also its sister titles the fire will have no impact on next week’s editons.

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Mr Shipton said, “It’s business as normal. Our reporting and advertising teams will work from our other neighbouring offices until the damage is repaired.

“I am obviously enormously relieved that no-one appears to have been injured in the fire.”

He said it was far too early to assess the level of damage but he hoped that the swift action of the emergency services had contained the damage to one editorial area on the first floor.

Mr Shipton said: “I would like to thank the emergency services for their magnificent response this evening.”

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The cause of the fire has not yet been established but it is thought it may have been caused by an electrical fault.

The County Times, the area’s premier broadsheet newspaper, was founded on the site some 150 years ago.

A full report of the fire will appear in next week’s paper.