Yorkshire Evening Post

History

The paper was first published in 1890 by the Yorkshire Conservative Newspaper Company Limited who already published the Broadsheet newspaper The Yorkshire Post. Its main competitor was the Yorkshire Evening News which folded in 1963.

In 1925 the Yorkshire Evening Post produced a separate edition for South Yorkshire printed simultaneously in Doncaster. It was closed in 1970 and became the Doncaster Evening Post until it folded in 1983.

In 1967 United Newspapers Ltd merged with Yorkshire Conservative Newspaper Company Limited to form Yorkshire Post Newspapers which enabled them to move to a new £5 million premises on Wellington Street in 1970.

Johnston Press bought the Yorkshire Evening Post and The Yorkshire Post in 2002 for £570 million. In 2012, Johnston Press merged the Yorkshire Evening Post and The Yorkshire Post with then editor Peter Charlton overseeing both papers and correspondents writing for both titles.

In the same year, Johnston Press announced that it would close Yorkshire Post Newspapers headquarters on Wellington Street and move printing to Dinnington near Sheffield while journalists moved to new offices on Whitehall Road.

In September 2013, it was announced the Wellington Street premises would be demolished. Preliminary demolition began in March 2014. The following month it was announced the tower would be spared.

Sponsorships

Starting in 1926, the Yorkshire Evening Post sponsored motorcycle trial events on Post Hill, an area near Farnley specifically acquired for this purpose.

The Yorkshire Evening Post announced it would be the main shirt sponsor of Leeds United for the 1991-92 season.

Former journalists

• Keith Waterhouse (1929–2009), author of Billy Liar
• Barbara Taylor Bradford (1933–2024), author of A Woman of Substance
• Mark Knopfler (1949-) British guitarist, singer, songwriter, record producer (Junior reporter)

Memoir

In his 2015 memoir, former reporter Revel Barker recalled the 1960s:

"During the cricket season...the Evening Post would be on the streets at 10.30 a.m. The 'First' would be out about noon, the 'Final' at 2 p.m., the 'One-star final' around 3.30 and the 'Late Night Final' about 4.30. the Post was selling around 250,000 copies a night... nowadays there is only one edition, written and produced the night before and printed in Sheffield, 36 miles away"

(In 1963) "our main competition the Yorkshire Evening News succumbed to economic pressures and folded to merge with the YEP – for a brief time creating a daily circulation close to half a million copies."

Availability

The Yorkshire Evening Post is widely available across the City of Leeds as well as areas around Harrogate, Wakefield, Dewsbury, and Ilkley. An online edition is also available.

References

References

1. (21 August 2025). "Leeds - Yorkshire Evening Post".
2. (17 April 2014). "Leeds landmark tower to survive Yorkshire Post demolition". BBC.
3. "The Leeds Motor Club". www.oldclassiccar.co.uk.
4. Hutchinson, Andrew. (27 February 2020). "Blue plaque honour for acclaimed Leeds-born writer Keith Waterhouse".
5. Maclure, Abbey. (20 November 2021). "Barbara Taylor Bradford: How the best-selling Leeds author launched her extraordinary career at the Yorkshire Evening Post". Yorkshire Evening Post.
6. ''The Last Pub in Fleet Street'', Palatino Publishing, 2015, Revel Barker, {{ISBN. 9781907841156