OVER the past 300 years many Bristol newspapers had come and gone – the Bristol Post Boy (1702), Felix Farley's Journal, The Bristol Evening News, the Bristol Times and Mirror and the Evening Times and Echo, to name but a few.

Back 100 years ago, Bristolians were spoiled for choice with six daily papers and six weeklies.

But in 1932 the Evening World – started in 1929 and one of a chain owned by Lord Rothermere – was printing and publishing in its own specially built city centre offices.

None of the city's old-style papers could compete with the brash, well-financed World and people were not happy.

Many cried out for a local newspaper that was not part of an anonymous national chain.

The Post's founders came from many well-known families – Hawkin's on the newspaper side, Carwardine's, the big name in tea and coffee, and the paper giants Robinson's and Taylor's, who were in printing.

Alongside these names were representatives from the newsagents' federation and the church, as well as the owner of the city's biggest bonded warehouses.

Twelve people were nominated as directors, with Walter Hawkins as company secretary.

A subscription of £40,000 in £1 shares saw hundreds of ordinary people investing and helping to launch the new venture.

And that is why the Post's motto is "The paper all Bristol asked for and helped to create"

London financiers were rejected, as was Lord Rothermere who offered the directors seats on the board of the World to give up their crazy idea.

Despite all the local support, the new paper, with less than £50,000 in the bank, faced a multi-million pound empire with a strong base in the city.

The Post, by contrast, was housed in an old leather warehouse in Silver Street, just off Broadmead.

The small editorial team sat round a farmhouse kitchen table and the managing director's desk rested on a bare concrete floor.

Despite the difficulties, the first day's sales were an impressive 138,529 with a lot of advertising having to hold over until the following day.

But it soon became apparent that national advertising was slow in coming forward.

As competition from Lord Rothermere's increasingly aggressive Evening World was stepped up, so the Post faced financial ruin.

Things came to a head in 1934 when the Post's publicity department challenged the World's circulation figures.

Rothermere sued for libel and the World refused to open its books.

Finally peace was declared.

A new company, Bristol United Press (BUP), was formed to run both Post and World.

But controlling the papers from both Bristol and London proved a non-starter.

In 1939 the control of BUP passed to the Evening Post, with Rothermere's Associated Newspaper group keeping a 30 per cent stake.

Then in 1960, BUP took over the ailing Western Daily Press and appointed a dynamic editor, Eric Price.

With a circulation eventually peaking at 84,000 it was a great success story.

But like so many other regional newspapers, the Post was ultimately destined to lose its independence.

In 1998 Northcliffe Newspapers, part of the Associated Newspaper group, finally bought out Bristol United Press's last remaining independent shareholders.

And by 2000 they finally took control of the two Bristol newspapers.

Now, 10 years later, the Western Daily Press, founded in Bristol in 1858, has moved its news gathering operation to Plymouth.

As our Lord Mayor Christopher Davies says: "Local newspapers are important because they are the fabric of our communities.

"Where would we be without our Post and Press in Bristol?"