Titles in the north and midlands, including the Birmingham Mail and Liverpool Echo, have seen the steepest drop in sales across paid-for daily regional newspapers, the latest ABC figures show.

The figures, for the six months to the end of June, painted a predictable picture of overall decline in the daily regional press.

Only the cuts-hit Leicester Mercury, owned by Trinity Mirror, recorded growth of any kind. It was up 2 per cent on the previous six months with sales of 29,317 copies and also suffered the shortest fall in year-on-year sales at 4 per cent.

The biggest drop came at the Wigan Evening Post, with average daily sales at 2,822 copies, down 30 per cent year-on-year and 24 per cent on the previous six months.

In January the Post was declared “sub-core” by Johnston Press, meaning it delivered “very low levels of contribution” as a brand in terms of revenue at the publisher.

The Liverpool Echo’s decline in the first half of this year continues from the last six months of 2015, when it dropped 12.3 per cent year-on-year to an average of 52,389 sales per day.

In the six months to the end of June, it has fallen a further 9 per cent to 47,862 average daily sales – a fall of 20 per cent year-on-year.

The decline follows a major redesign last year that saw the paper change its ethos to have less emphasis on crime and more on positive news.

Other titles hit hard by a drop in sales were the Birmingham Mail, which saw sales fall to 21,086 copies – down 24 per cent year-on-year and 13 per cent on the previous six months.

The Coventry Telegraph, South Shields Gazette, Hartlepool Mail and Doncaster Star all saw sales fall by more than 20 per cent year-on-year.

Best-selling regional daily the Express and Star (West Midlands) was down 12 per cent year-on-year to 59,267 copies.

The Manchester Evening News was down 14 per cent year-on-year, but held steady at about 51,800 average daily sales compared with the previous six months.

Sales of the Yorkshire Evening Post were down 9 per cent on the previous six months to 18,093 copies.

In the south the Bournemouth Daily Echo and Southern Daily Echo in Southampton were down 15 per cent and 13 per cent year-on-year respectively.

Circulation figures for regional daily paid-for newspapers over the six months to the end of June (source: ABC):

Title	Owner	Total	% change from last six months	% change year-on-year	Circ %
Express & Star (West Midlands)	The Midland News Association	59,267	-4.9	-11.9	83.6
Press & Journal (Aberdeen)	D C Thomson & Co Ltd	54,270	-3.8	-7.2	99.3
Manchester Evening News	Trinity Mirror plc	51,794	-0.1	-14.1	56.6
Liverpool Echo	Trinity Mirror plc	47,862	-8.6	-19.9	98
Belfast Telegraph	Independent News & Media (NI)	41,912	-2.1	-5	76.2
The Courier (Dundee)	D C Thomson & Co Ltd	41,243	-4.2	-8.5	99.5
Eastern Daily Press (Norwich)	Archant Ltd	36,605	-4.9	-8.1	99.7
Irish News – Morning	Irish News Co	35,921	-2.8	-4.6	99.3
The Herald (Glasgow)	Newsquest Media Group	30,402	-5.4	-11.6	100
Leicester Mercury	Trinity Mirror plc	29,317	2	-3.7	93.8
The Sentinel	Trinity Mirror plc	28,862	-6.8	-13.7	99.3
Hull Daily Mail	Trinity Mirror plc	28,686	-4.2	-9.2	99.8
Shropshire Star	The Midland News Association	28,441	-5.1	-12.1	97.1
Newcastle Chronicle	Trinity Mirror plc	28,258	-6.9	-14	97.4
Evening Express (Aberdeen)	D C Thomson & Co Ltd	27,441	-4.7	-11.3	99.6
Yorkshire Post (Leeds)	Johnston Press plc	26,491	1.4	-5.1	95.3
Evening Times (Glasgow)	Newsquest Media Group	25,679	-7.4	-14.3	100
The Northern Echo (Darlington)	Newsquest Media Group	25,290	-5.8	-9.1	100
South Wales Evening Post	Trinity Mirror plc	22,572	-7.1	-13.7	100
The Gazette (Teesside)	Trinity Mirror plc	22,513	-5.3	-11.7	97.3
Birmingham Mail	Trinity Mirror plc	21,086	-13.1	-23.8	99.5
News & Sports Mail (Portsmouth)	Johnston Press plc	20,818	-8.1	-14.2	99.7
The Scotsman	Johnston Press plc	20,304	-10.7	-14.6	88.9
Evening News (Edinburgh )	Johnston Press plc	20,235	-7.2	-14.1	97.7
Derby Telegraph	Trinity Mirror plc	20,090	-5.2	-8.2	95.7
Echo (Southend – Basildon – Canvey)	Newsquest Media Group	18,996	-6.6	-11	99.9
The Post	Trinity Mirror plc	18,967	-8.2	-16.3	95.9
Nottingham Post	Trinity Mirror plc	18,610	-6.1	-9.6	90.8
Plymouth – The Herald	Trinity Mirror plc	18,191	-4.1	-9.7	100
Yorkshire Evening Post (Leeds)	Johnston Press plc	18,093	-9.3	-10	88.6
Southern Daily Echo (Southampton)	Newsquest Media Group	17,521	-6.7	-13.3	100
Sheffield Star	Johnston Press plc	17,159	-8.6	-15.5	100
Ipswich – East Anglian Daily Times	Archant Ltd	17,028	-4.8	-9.4	100
Coventry Telegraph	Trinity Mirror plc	16,475	-9	-22.7	99.2
News Letter	Johnston Press plc	16,396	-1.3	-6.4	99.3
Dundee Evening Telegraph	D C Thomson & Co Ltd	16,354	-3	-9.5	99.7
Cardiff – South Wales Echo	Trinity Mirror plc	16,241	-7.9	-15.2	98.9
The Press (York)	Newsquest Media Group	15,428	-7.2	-11	100
Telegraph & Argus (Bradford)	Newsquest Media Group	14,813	-6.9	-11.5	100
Sunderland Echo	Johnston Press plc	14,038	-7.9	-16.9	100
The Daily Echo (Bournemouth)	Newsquest Media Group	13,987	-9	-14.7	100
Jersey Evening Post	The Midland News Association	13,791	-5	-8.1	95.4
Guernsey Press & Star	The Midland News Association	12,580	-2.1	-4.7	88.9
Lancashire Telegraph – Blackburn	Newsquest Media Group	11,807	-6.3	-11.3	86.1
Lancashire Evening Post	Johnston Press plc	11,632	-6.1	-11.4	100
The Argus Brighton	Newsquest Media Group	11,424	-6.1	-10.3	96.2
South Wales Argus	Newsquest Media Group	11,344	-1.1	-6.3	100
Ipswich Star	Archant Ltd	11,108	-3.3	-8.8	64.8
Dorset Echo	Newsquest Media Group	10,944	-3.1	-9.8	100
Oxford Mail	Newsquest Media Group	10,777	-3.5	-8.4	100
The Gazette – Blackpool	Johnston Press plc	10,332	-10	-15.4	100
The Bolton News	Newsquest Media Group	10,172	-4.3	-8.8	100
Swindon Advertiser	Newsquest Media Group	10,056	-3.7	-9	100
Colchester – Daily Gazette	Newsquest Media Group	9,866	-6.4	-10.8	99.9
Evening News (Norwich)	Archant Ltd	9,680	-5	-8.1	100
Barrow – North West Evening Mail	CN Group	8,458	-4.7	-11.1	98.2
Oldham Evening Chronicle	Hirst Kidd & Rennie Ltd	7,434	-6.7	-14.2	100
Worcester News	Newsquest Media Group	7,422	-4.2	-8.5	100
News and Star East (Carlisle)	CN Group	7,306	-4.9	-9.2	97.8
Shields Gazette (South Shields)	Johnston Press plc	6,152	-14.4	-24.8	100
Hartlepool Mail	Johnston Press plc	5,735	-12.7	-22.9	100
Paisley Daily Express	Trinity Mirror plc	4,986	-2.4	-7.4	100
Wigan Evening Post	Johnston Press plc	2,822	-23.8	-30.1	100
Carlisle – News and Star West	CN Group	2,789	-4.1	-14	96.8
Doncaster Star	Johnston Press plc	604	-12	-21.3	100