Blog Preston's impact report covering April 2024-June 2024

We wanted to share how we're getting on at Blog Preston, it's our 15th year of operating and we shared some plans in January for how we're marking it.

As a Community Interest Company we thought it's important to tell you how things are going, so here's a snapshot for you:

?? Despite the well-documented challenges of growing digital audiences for news with Meta and Google making things a bit sticky for news publishers of all sizes, our views to Blog Preston grew by 52 per cent year-on-year with 1.89m views between April to June. In fact, June was our largest month of views to the site in nearly three years. ??

?? We published 837 stories during the three months, with nearly 100 of these made possible thanks to reader and organisation contributions to a crowdfunder to improve and expand our capacity for arts, culture, events and what's on coverage. The stories within this section having the most impact include the opening of Chew's Yard and our exclusive chat with Ben Casey and Christine Cort, a look at what's been happening with Bar Pintxos a year since ownership change, a yoga teacher returning to Preston, Preston Symphony Orchestra getting going, where and when Penwortham Live was happening, The Great Preston Lock Out anniversary event and a Cottam creative's spoken word night in the city.

?? We expanded our freelance writers, with Ben Briggs, Jamie Lopez and Louise Gooch all starting to pen some stories for us. See what they've been writing:

Ben: https://www.blogpreston.co.uk/author/ben-briggs/

Louise: https://www.blogpreston.co.uk/author/louise-hogg/

Jamie: https://www.blogpreston.co.uk/author/jamie-lopez/

?? Ahead of the general election, we worked with Lancashire Post and The Lead to run a hustings for Preston and another for South Ribble. It gave people the chance to put questions to candidates and hear what they had to say. Nearly 250 people turned out, with many more watching online and then reading extensive coverage across BP, the Post and The Lead. The superb Paul Faulkner was in the chair for both events and we continue to feature Paul's excellent journalism about the city and beyond on our site thanks to the BBC Local Democracy Reporting Service which we're subscribed to.

?? We joined the Independent Community News Network - to share and build on ideas with other independent news publishers and also give us greater legal advice both pre and post-publication to tackle some meatier topics. We also moved our advertising solution to the Snack Media network and have seen encouraging signs. We also took part in Indie News Week - a showcase of independent journalism across the UK - and met a number of readers at our event at OneCoWork - Flexible Workspaces to hear what they like (and don't like!) about BP.

?? We've been using a tool called smartocto to understand more about the stories which really get Preston going. You won't be surprised to know problems on the M6, crime and more are often the most-read, but what do people spend the most time reading. Below you'll see the 15 stories which have had the most impact for us during the period based on the time spent reading them, how many people read them and how widely shared they were.

1.?Corporation Street bus gate branded ‘absolute farce’ and ‘should be reversed’

2.?‘Bully boy tactics’ leave popular Preston burger restaurant just the latest to be smashed out

3.?Preston Bus in latest routes shake-up with some services axed and new ones created

4.?Preston City Council local elections 2024 rolling results updates

5.?A cheese pie and a premature goodbye at this Longridge pub and restaurant

6.?Corporation Street bus gate is now literally a gate

7.?Preston City Council local elections 2024: Updates, results and reaction

8.?Preston Bus plan major evening cutbacks to four services

9.?Alleged ‘rundown’ state of Preston city centre blamed on car policies and cost-of-living crisis

10.?Fishergate Shopping Centre could be demolished as part of railway station plans

11.?Review: Eastern Charm – order authentic at the new restaurant that went viral

12.?Preston’s landmark Guild Tower to be converted into more than 100 flats

13.?‘Sinister’ tactics of ‘neighbour from hell’ who terrorised a community

14.?Fried chicken shop to open on Penwortham’s main shopping street despite outcry

15.?‘Sweetheart’ pocket bully Moon who has been waiting a year for a new home

?? And last month we announced our partnership with Jam Publications to create a new online directory for businesses in Preston to get their services in front of our readers. Our new section is live and we're already seeing city businesses take up this opportunity. Many thanks to them for supporting us.

What's to come?

?? Our new-look what's on section is nearly ready, thanks to those who contributed to the crowdfunder and also the clever crew at 3manfactory . It will give anyone organising events in the city, and surrounding area, a free way to get them in front of our audience.

?? Our first foray into podcasting will appear in the coming weeks - with a familiar Preston voice behind the microphone ;)

?? There's a busy summer of events happening in the city - so we'll keep documenting these, with some great photos from the Preston Photographic Society amongst others.

?? And we're going to progress plans for a wider re-design of our website, it's a bit old now and we also want to explore new and different ways to tell our stories too. We'll share more in the coming months as we progress this!

Many thanks to everyone for their continued support, and for reading too. Please keep the feedback and story tips coming - [email protected] - if there's anything you ever want to discuss.

Ed, Kate, Luke and the rest of Team BP

p.s. The best way to receive our stories is to sign yourself up for our twice-a-week email newsletter of the biggest stories in the city and join the 550+ people on our WhatsApp channel who get our stories direct to them.