Guernsey Press was 'born' in a shop in Le Pollet

A 250-copy, four-page first edition on green paper was so in demand that by the end of its first month the print run was increased to 550 copies, as Damian Wrigley explains...

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FROM 17, Le Pollet the Guernsey Press was 'born'.

At the time, fittingly, the building was a newsagents and from within its walls, before the presses starting rolling, a memorandum of association was signed by seven people to create the Guernsey Press Co. Ltd.

The signatories were Ernest F. Tozer (printer), Alfred Reynolds (journalist) and Nicholas W. Abbot (accountant), Henry Moore (scrivener), William F. English (compositor), Percy E. Amy (journalist) and John W. Frecker (commercial clerk).

The foundation directors were Gervase F. Peek (chairman), Percy Amy and Albert Hodges.

Printed from within the newsagent's walls and issued in bundles, Guernsey's first daily newspaper had run a marketing campaign to whip up interest.

On a cavalcade between St Sampson's and St Peter Port to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria, a horse-drawn trolley had a printer's treadle platen machine on it with an operator printing leaflets proclaiming the birth of 'The Guernsey Evening Press'.

At 6.30pm on Saturday 31 July 1897, that first edition – running to four pages and printed on green paper – was issued at a cost of one halfpenny.

With a front cover of mostly adverts and a story on States reform within its pages, the initial print run of 250 copies had to increase to 550 by the end of the first month to keep up with demand.

Currently a shoe shop, 17, Le Pollet was once owned by the same people who ran Fruit Export and the Press remained written and printed there until it had outgrown the premises in March 1900, when it moved to Smith Street.

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SMITH STREET remains part of the Guernsey Press and the relationship with the area began in March 1900 when it moved its operations there after a brief few years in 17, Le Pollet.

Moving to the corner premises of Smith Street and the High Street, a larger printing press was installed to help keep up with demand.

Such was the growth rate of the Press that the company had to move to the double front of Nos 4 and 6 in February 1902. Here the editorial and clerical staff were based, along with an office for receiving adverts, a stationery shop, a room where a linotype print machine was installed and a jobbing department.

The shops at 4 and 6 Smith Street sold stationery and anything else that would boost the company's revenue.

Expansion continued to be necessary and in 1910, No. 8 was purchased. This remained the extent on the street until 1937, when No. 10 was added and extensive work was carried out to join the buildings together. Offices at the rear were demolished and Nos 8 and 10 were linked, providing a suite of accommodation for various departments.

After the buildings were joined, the Press stationery shop, advertising department, the management, editorial and general staff departments from this date became one entity and had, as was referred to at the time, as 'complete inter-communication'.

There was also a pipeline between the old Post Office opposite and the newsroom through which urgent telegrams were propelled.

It is even said the offices are haunted by the ghost of an ex-editor who died there.

A garage and store for reels of newsprint were completed some time around 1955.

From the Smith Street offices the Press went through one its most difficult periods, the Occupation. Newsprint had been bought heavily in the days leading up to the war and this allowed the paper to continue to be produced, with some 7,000 copies still being printed in March 1942.

The shops remained open and the island was supplied with stationery throughout.

A separate wholesale department was opened in 1947 and expanded when Nos 12 and 12a were added in 1948.

Guernsey Press Wholesale moved to a new, bigger warehouse in 1979 and opened a cash-and-carry facility.

The Smith Street shop continues to sell books and stationery.

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BRAYE ROAD, Vale, was the next chapter in the story of where the Press was printed.

After 75 years, the paper switched its printing from Smith Street to Braye Road on 5 November 1979.

A former factory, these were the first premises to be purpose designed for the Press which moved away from the 'rabbit warren' that Smith Street had become.

The new larger space allowed the newspaper to expand and invest in new technology and, by 1983, a new contract printing division was producing seven million copies of 1,000 paperback book titles for 60 publishers throughout the UK.

More space was needed and two more factory units were acquired on the site before a 27,000sq. ft extension was added. Full colour photos and adverts were introduced to the newspaper from these premises in the mid-1980s.

By 1988 the area had doubled, computers were being installed and apart from a fire destroying the wholesale department in 1991, the Press has fared well at its out-of-Town location.