Dragon Interview: Ten Years and Counting For The Guildford Dragon NEWS

Published on: 2 Apr, 2022
Updated on: 5 Apr, 2022

By Hugh Coakley

It was ten years ago in March 2012 when The Guildford Dragon NEWS first reported on the town.

That first month there were 3,908 pages viewed with articles on a proposed sculpture commemorating the Guildford Guy Riots, a review on an Yvonne Arnaud play and a piece claiming the GBC “Masterplan” was flawed.

From the left, David Rose, Hugh Coakley and below, editor Martin Giles talk about The future of The Dragon.

A decade later, it is still local news that grabs the headlines but The Dragon now gets around 3,000 to 5,000 views daily with a peak month in December 2020 of 210,000 pages viewed.

These numbers show The Dragon is meeting a need in our borough, providing news, views and debate about local issues.

And it has become the “point of record” for Guildford now, with an extensive 10-year archive of what has been happening in our town and it is seen by many to have supplanted the mighty Surrey Advertiser as THE local newspaper.

Why has it been a success, what have been the highlights of those 10 years and where will The Dragon go next?

These are questions Dragon reporter Hugh Coakley put to Martin Giles, editor and co-founder and David Rose, local historian and co-founder of The Guildford Dragon NEWS.

Hear their discussion in the interview below…