Meet the team behind Dublin’s oldest free newspaper

PICTURED here are just some of the faces behind Dublin’s most successful local newspaper, Northside People, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this week.

For a quarter of a century (yes, that does make us sound old!) we have endeavoured to bring you the best local news in Dublin. We’ve come some way since our modest 12-page edition first published in May 1987. But in essence, we are still doing now what we set out to do then – to provide Northside communities with a medium for their views and opinions, while giving local businesses a powerful and effective advertising vehicle.

This special edition of Northside People is a tribute to all those who made it happen, from our dedicated staff to loyal readers and advertisers.

The paper was established in 1987 by Robin and Sylvia Webb and a small team of dedicated people who had previously worked in the free newspaper industry. Much like today, these were challenging times to be setting up a business and the endurance of the Northside People brand is testimony to Robin and Sylvia’s confidence in the product.

Today we publish three weekly editions across the capital – Northside People (East), Northside People (West) and Southside People, with a print run of 120,000 copies. To underpin our confidence in our newspapers, each edition’s circulation is independently audited by the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC).

We also have a highly acclaimed website, www.dublin people.com, which was shortlisted last year for an eircom Golden Spider Award.

And in keeping with the times, we have embraced the age of social networking with our popular Twitter and Facebook pages.

The people in this photograph are drawn from all the various departments that make up our business; editorial, sales, production, accounts, reception and administration, all experts in their respective fields. We deeply value the hard work, dedication and professionalism they demonstrate every single day.

We hope you enjoy reading this special edition as much as we did putting it together. You’ll find articles written by some of our former journalists; photos from our extensive archives; and a look back at some of the stories that made the headlines in Northside People over the past 25 years.

It has been a genuine pleasure dealing with our readers, community groups, politicians (yes, most of them are a decent bunch and a valuable source of local news) and our advertisers.

We look forward to continuing our journey with you all into the future.