bitternepark.info, one of the UK’s longest established ‘hyperlocal’ news sites, celebrated its 20th birthday this September.
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‘Hyperlocal’ is a handy word to describe independent news that focuses on a small community or area. In practice it can mean anything from a single neighbourhood to a whole town - or even a city.
bitternepark.info covers local news not only from the Southampton ward of Bitterne Park and surrounding areas, but frequently from further afield too, including some city-wide stories. It attracts a regular readership of thousands, many of whom visit a number of pages each visit and come back several times a month.
Photographing campaigners concerned about the sale of Woodmill Activities Centre from the Civic Centre steps in July - just one of many campaigns and events the site has covered over the years
“As I mentioned when the site turned 15, the key drivers for starting up were two-fold,” said editor Guy Phillips.
“One was the need to report in depth on important local issues and campaigns surfacing at the time - for example airport expansion and threats to close the local library. And the second was that accessible new tech meant now it was easier than ever to publish online.
“Of course the local issues haven’t stopped coming ever since!”
From the comings and goings of local businesses to planning battles, election coverage, crime updates, roadworks,interviews and community voices - and latterly including Local Democracy Reporting Service stories - bitternepark.info has spent 20 years keeping readers informed - and sometimes even amused.
An image from one of the editor's favourite April fools reported a new social distancing plan for Riverside Park during the easing of lockdown rules in 2021. Of course, this piece fooled no one. Or did it? Graphic: L. Weedy
“The new tech when we started came in the form of free content management systems we take for granted today, lowering the barriers to publishing without the need for programming skills – mirroring the ‘desktop publishing revolution’ of the 80s,” explained Guy.
The site is funded by advertising, but increasingly relies on generous readers who chip in a few pounds a month.
This year the site has launched a new premium newsletter on Substack. ‘digest+’ builds on the decade-old ‘digest’ newsletter, linking to all the latest stories and adding occasional previously unpublished content such as audio interviews with local figures.
“I’d urge you to try it out if you haven’t already - the ‘monthly’ paid tier, currently with a free trial, gives you the digest+ newsletter and occasional extras, mainly in the form of audios.
“But most of all, subscribing gives you that warm feeling of supporting everything we publish across the site, newsletters and social media,” said Guy.
As we mark two decades of sharing local stories, our thanks go to our readers for your continued support, to our community contacts who keep us ‘in the loop’, to the advertisers who make it possible, and our tech support ‘department’ who keep things ticking over nicely.
Thank you to everyone who’s made these 20 years of publishing possible.