BOLTON has the distinction of publishing a community evening halfpenny newspaper before any other town in Britain.

Long before other major towns in the country could get their own publications on the streets the good citizens of Bolton could read the latest stories in the Bolton Evening News.

The only other evening paper to publish before the Bolton Evening News was the Shipping Gazette in South Shields - and that doesn't really count as a true local paper.

The very first edition of the Bolton Evening News was published on Tuesday March 19, 1867 - with the front page entirely devoted to adverts.

From that historic day the paper never looked back and over the years the owners of the paper, whether it be the founding Tillotson family, or the subsequent corporate publishers, never shied away from change.

In fact, over the years the paper was at the forefront of change as it is today, moving from a daily evening newspaper to a paper available all day in keeping with changing attitudes and reading habits.

The origins of the paper stretch way back to 1834 when John Tillotson was apprenticed to printer Robert Marsden Holden, who had premises in Mealhouse Lane.

Tillotson eventually married his boss's daughter and took over the business in 1850. His son, William Frederick Tillotson, became apprenticed to his father.

He managed to persuade his father to help him launch the first Bolton Evening News which stretched to four pages.

Severe difficulties dogged WF Tillotson's early enterprise but he persevered and the Evening News really took off under the first editor William Brimelow.

Legend has it that the job application process then could be traumatic. Brimelow is said to have a habit of throwing a book on the ground just as potential applicants entered the office to see what their reaction was.

Following on from the success of the evening paper the weekly Journals followed: Bolton Journal and Guardian 1871, Farnworth Weekly Journal 1873, Leigh, Tyldesley and Atherton Journal 1874, Eccles and Patricroft Journal 1874, Horwich and Westhoughton Journal 1925, and the Stretford and Urmston in 1960.

In addition to the newspaper the Tillotson family also developed their general printing and carton making businesses.

The paper went from strength to strength and outgrew its primitive origins in a hand-fed printer and in 1876 a Victory printing and folding machine was acquired with a capacity of printing 16,000 copies an hour.

The Tillotsons remained owners of the Evening News into the latter part of the 20th century, but the days of family-owned newspapers were drawing to a close and in 1971 the Tillotsons sold the company to St Regis International of New York.

From then on change happened rapidly. St Regis sold the group to Reed International in 1982 and the Bolton Evening News became the largest of its titles.

In 1987 the paper relocated to its present building - Newspaper House in Churchgate and the old building in Mealhouse Lane became the Shipgates shopping centre, later becoming part of Crompton Place shopping arcade.

Now, on Monday the birth of The Bolton News is the latest innovative change in newspaper publishing marking the beginning of a new era.