The Lead North’s titles have moved to Substack - and confirmed the launch of a brand new edition in Yorkshire.
The Blackpool Lead has made the move to Substack after reaching 2,000 subscribers since launch in January. It will be joined by relaunched The Teesside Lead and the newly-launched Calderdale Lead in the coming weeks.
Subscribe to The Blackpool Lead
The Teesside Lead will be edited by investigative and political journalist Leigh Jones who has earned his reputation covering hard-hitting issues at both The Northern Echo and The Yorkshire Post.
Leigh said: “It's a sign of The Lead’s intentions that they're investing in providing high quality news and features for Teesside. The region was of strategic importance to the last government and remains important to the new administration, but the local press’s diminishing resources mean they haven't been able to properly scrutinise decisions being made with public money here.
“I'm positively itching to continue the work I've been doing for the past two years on this patch uncovering what's going on here. There's no more exciting news organisation to do that with than The Lead.”
Subscribe to The Teesside Lead
The Lead’s first title in Yorkshire will be a partnership with journalism trainer and former Burnley Express and Bolton News man Andrew Greaves. He will head up The Calderdale Lead.
Andrew said: “Calderdale is such an amazing place and is a real melting pot of culture, the arts and the people have such a strong revolutionary spirit.
“I’m really looking forward to capturing all that with The Lead and give the people of Brighouse, Todmorden, Hebden Bridge, Halifax and elsewhere a news publication to be proud of!”
Subscribe to The Calderdale Lead
The Lead’s title in Blackpool - which has seen it go into print twice in 2024 with 50,000 copies printed - is also joining the Substack platform.
All titles are supported and overseen by The Lead North’s senior editors Ed Walker and Luke Beardsworth along with engagement editor Lillian Race.
Luke said: “Substack is a great platform for user experience - one of the most common problems readers have with local media is how devices struggle to simply load the sites so they can read the news.
“The Blackpool Lead has worked so far, and can act as a model for other launches, because it sticks to in-depth reporting on issues that matter to people who live there, delivered in a way that isn’t a nuisance.
“We’re looking forward to keeping that ethos at the heart of what we do and seeing what we achieve on a new platform.”
It follows the launch of The Lancashire Lead in April on Substack and the relaunch of The Lead’s national title on Substack in September which has a focus on tackling the rise of the far-right and the country’s housing crisis as well as a continued commitment to stories and topics which often don’t make the national headlines.
Each title will offer a paid-for subscription of £4.99-a-month which will also include access to The Lead’s national title within the price (or national subscribers can request access to a specific local edition too for their subscription price). Discounted annual and founder subscriptions are also available for each title.
The Lead is now on Substack.
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