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The plan includes the closure of the historic Watford print plant, that was once the largest print plant in the world
Reach, a commercial news publisher for the UK and Ireland, has announced it will be consolidating its print operations in order to improve cash generation and save on costs. The news means the closure of print sites in Saltire and Watford this year.
With brands like the Mirror, Express, Daily Star, Manchester Evening News, and BelfastLive, Reach is one of the largest news organisations in the UK.
In September 2025, Reach announced it was cutting hundreds of journalism jobs in a bid to create more video content and share content across its various titles. 321 redundancies were announced with 135 new roles created at the end of last year on top of 100 potential redundancies announced in July. Reports from the likes of the BBC cite AI and shared resources as reasons for the changes.
The latest plans from Reach would mean the work done by the Saltire print site in Scotland would be moved to Reach’s Oldham site later this spring, with a smaller portion of work going to DC Thomson’s facility in Dundee. DC Thomson is a media company that publishes the likes of The Evening Telegraph, The Sunday Post, and The Beano and Dandy comics.
The work undertaken by the Watford site is planned to move operations to Broxbourne via a commercial outsourcing agreement. Reach says a thorough consultation process with all impacted employees of both sites has begun. The proposals could affect around 247 jobs across both print sites.
The Watford site is said to employ around 150 people with the BBC understanding that some staff may be redeployed to Broxbourne.
The change has been highlighted as ending a long history of printing in Watford which has industry roots as far back as the early 19th century. It was even estimated that one in every 13 people in the town were involved in print, making it the largest print centre in the world between the 1920s and 1960s.
Unite the Union, which is involved in the consultation process, says the decision is “nonsensical” due to most of Reach’s revenue stemming from its printed publications.
Chief executive of Reach, Piers North, says: “Print remains an important part of our business, and will continue to drive considerable circulation revenue, but our future is firmly rooted in digital. This consolidation is a proactive and strategic move, positioning our business for long-term success.
“By refining our print operations, we can focus our attention on content and audiences – the core driver of our business – and accelerate our digital growth opportunities such as our digital subscriptions offering.”
