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Pontypool Free Press

The Pontypool Free Press is a weekly tabloid newspaper sold in the town of Pontypool and the County Borough of Torfaen, including the towns of Cwmbran and Blaenavon.

It was founded in 1859 as the poetically named Pontypool Free Press and Herald of the Hills. In 1879 it became simply The Pontypool Free Press and kept that name for another 30 years, becoming the Free Press of Monmouthshire in 1909. In 1993 it was renamed just The Press.

Since 1998 it’s been part of a Free Press series published by Newsquest (Wales).

It survived a reorganisation of the series in November 2008, in which the Chepstow Free Press, Monmouth Free Press and Abergavenny Free Press were merged into a single edition called simply The Free Press.

Its editorial office in Pontypool closed in November 2011 after over 150 years, although Torfaen County Borough Council provided a room in the civic centre to enable the paper to keep a presence in the town. It’s now produced from Newsquest’s regional headquarters in Newport.

It comes out on Wednesdays.

  • Address:
  • Pontypool Free Press
    Cardiff Road
    Maesglas
    NEWPORT
    NP20 3QN
  • Tel:
  • 01633 810000
  • Fax:
  • 01633 777202