May 16
Nub News encourages readers around country to back Crewe’s bid for railway HQ
Hyperlocal news titles around the UK are throwing their weight behind a campaign to base the HQ of British Railways in the Cheshire town of Crewe.
Titles which are part of the Nub News network of hyperlocal titles are backing Crewe because the company is based in Crewe.
42 towns and cities around the UK have told the Department for Transport they could be the home of British Railways, which the government is keen to locate outside of London as part of its Levelling Up agenda.
The Government will whittle that number down to a shortlist, and then it will go to a public vote.
And Nub News titles across the country are now getting behind the bid, as seen here on Nub News Thurrock.
Nub News CEO Karl Hancock said: “We are delighted to be backing Crewe’s bid to be the home of Great British Railways. Crewe has for a long time been at the heart of rail in this country and rail is at the heart of the town — it truly can offer the heritage, infrastructure and expertise needed to make this opportunity a success for the whole country.
“Whether you are reading this in Dorset, Devon, Somerset, Cheshire, London, the Midlands or anywhere else in the country, here at Nub News we believe this is a bid not just for the people of Crewe but the entire country.
“It is one of the best-connected towns in the country and I’m sure many of our readers will have gone through it on the train or even changed there. The levelling-up impacts that GBR will bring to Crewe won’t simply stay there but will flow throughout the country due to these strong links.
“Alongside this, we are pleased that our own headquarters will soon be moving to Crewe. As Nub News continues to grow we want to make sure we are connected to our communities in Cheshire but also around the country — and we think Crewe is the place to do that.
“Soon, the public will have the chance to vote on where Great British Railways and we’d urge all of our communities to get behind Crewe.”
Crewe’s bid was submitted by Cheshire East Council and its partners. Councillors have expressed delighted that Nub News is getting behind them.
Since launching, Nub News has opened websites in towns around the UK, with a mission to ‘put your town in your pocket.’
The company specialises in hyperlocal news, with an emphasis on community stories it says many publishers have stopped doing, employing editors to cover several town sites at a time, and encouraging them to be at the heart of their communities.
The full list of towns that have submitted bids is as follows: Barrow in Furness, Birmingham, Bishops Stortford, Bolton, Camborne, Carlisle, Carnforth, Coventry, Crewe, Darlington, Derby, Didcot, Doncaster, Dundee, Durham, Eastleigh, Edinburgh, Fife, Gloucester, Grantham, Greater Manchester, Heywood, Hull, Liverpool, Milton Keynes, Motherwell, Newcastle, Northampton, Nuneaton, Perth, Peterborough, Preston (Lancs), Southampton, Stockton-on-Tees, Swindon, Tamworth, Tonbridge, Wakefield, Wellingborough, West of England combined authority (including Bristol and Bath), Worcester and York.
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