AFTER a presence of more than 137 years in Thurrock, one of the last links with the borough's traditional newspaper, the Thurrock Gazette, appears about to end.

An application has been submitted by the new owners of the Gazette's offices on Orsett Road, Grays, to turn the building into two two bedroom flats.

The application can be viewed via this link.

The Gazette, once a mainstay of local communication going back to its days as the Grays & Tilbury Gazette, continues to be published as a small distribution free newspaper (with associated website) but has had no office in the borough for a couple of years.

Owners Newquest have now disposed of the office and, if permission is granted for the change of use of the building, it will be seen by many as the ending of an era.

Neil Speight, editor of Thurrock Nub News, which is now the only news media based in the borough, is a former editor of the Gazette and said: "As Newsquest announced in February last year 'The Times, they are a changing' but it remains a great shame that such a lauded and historic institution as the Gazette no longer even has a landmark office in the borough.

"I remain tremendously honoured to have been on the list of editors of the Gazette and I lament the passing of its physical presence in the borough and hope that it is able to carry on in its present print and online formats.

"It is incredibly important that there is a choice of media presence in any area and the Gazette has played a massive part in the growth and history of the borough. Long may it continue."