BEFORE Manchester or Liverpool had evening papers, Bolton had the Evening News -- the first independent halfpenny evening paper in England other than the Shipping Gazette in South Shields.

The new paper was destined to become part and parcel of the daily life of Bolton, the foundation of a family business which by the 1950s also included a series of weekly papers, a fine printing works in Manchester Road, and a large carton making business in other parts of the country.

The story began in 1834, when John Tillotson was apprenticed to Robert Marsden Holden, a printer whose premises were in Mealhouse Lane. John married his employer's daughter, and took over the business in 1850.

His son, William Frederick became apprenticed to his father, and in 1865 the firm moved to new premises in Mawdsley Street. It was there (the site is now marked by a Civic Trust plaque) that W F, aged 23, persuaded his at first reluctant father to launch the paper. The first Evening News, on March 19, 1867, consisted of four pages. Every line of type had to be set up by hand, and each sheet had to be hand fed into a Payne printing machine, which was capable of producing only 800 unfolded copies of the Evening News each hour.

The following year, the Tillotson's were founder members of the Press Association, and in 1871 launched the Bolton Weekly Journal, the first of what was to become the Lancashire Journal series, including the Farnworth and Worsley Journal, Horwich and Westhoughton Journal, Leigh, Tyldesley and Atherton Journal, Swinton and Pendlebury Journal, and the Eccles and Patricroft Journal.

Circulations continued to increase, and it was difficult to meet demand. The first printing machine had twice been superseded by machines of greater speed and output, and as further expansion became necessary in 1876, a Victory printing and folding machine, with an output of 16,000 copies an hour was purchased. It created so much interest in the town that crowds gathered each day to gaze through the windows of the Mawdsley Street works to watch the papers being printed.

In 1890, as the business expanded, the firm of Tillotson's moved to specially built premises in Mealhouse Lane - on the site of an old slaughterhouse - almost opposite where John Tillotson had so many years ago begun his apprenticeship. Incorporated in the new works was a rotary web printing machine.

Once established in the new offices, the progress of the Evening News and the weekly papers continued. In 1893, the first of the newly invented linotype machines was installed, making it possible to put news in type much more rapidly than formerly, and thus made possible bigger papers. The paper was publishing five editions daily, the first at 12.30pm and the last at 5.45pm.

To deliver its papers to the outlying districts, the Evening News entered a contract with Messrs Holden, which in January 1890 was taken over by Bolton Corporation Tramways, and the papers were taken by tram. The service was not always satisfactory, though. On one occasion a conductor delivered all the parcels on his route to the first comer, telling him to do whatever he liked with the whole lot. But things settled down, and the evening paper was delivered by tram as well as van for many years.

By the end of the 19th century, events had proved that William Frederick Tillotson's faith in the growth of Bolton and its capacity to support an evening newspaper, had not been misplaced.

However, he was not around to see that success. W F died in 1889, after catching a chill, at the age of only 44, and seven years before his father. W F's widow, Mary, sister of William H Lever (the future first Lord Leverhulme) took over, together with the editor William Brimelow. Later her son, Mr Fred Tillotson joined the firm, and spent some of his time as editor. He later became chairman. Until 1987, there had been only six editors during the Evening News' 120 years history -- William Brimelow, Fred Tillotson, Isaac Edwards, Frank Singleton, Tom Cooke, and Les Gent. Since 1987, there have been four: Chris Walder, Andrew Smith, Mark Rossiter and the present editor Steve Hughes.

In 1921 a six-unit double-decker Foster press was bought (for 10 days in 1926 there was silence in Mealhouse Lane when during the General Strike, the presses lay still. A duplicating machine was used to print 40,000 news bulletins, and these were distributed free). In early 1940, the most modern equipment of its kind was installed -- a Crabtree press which could produce 40,000 copies an hour, and these were added to as the 'sixties approached.

The early 1960s also saw a £500,000 modernisation of the Mealhouse Lane offices.

In 1971, the Tillotson group was bought by St Regis, an American company, more interested in the carton section of the business, and as Mr Marcus Tillotson, who had been chairman since 1956 stepped down, the Tillotson family relinquished control.

Times were changing rapidly in the production of newspapers, and computers were taking over the role of the linotype machines, which had done so much good service over the years.

In 1982, the group was sold to Reed International, and the news division became Northern Counties Newspapers; five years later the presses stopped thundering as the heartbeat of the Mealhouse Lane building when the printing plant was moved to Lostock (with Preston-made Goss Urbanite presses capable of producing more than 100,000 full colour copies per hour), and the remaining sections of the newspapers moved offices to Newspaper house on Churchgate.

Massive investment had been put into the Bolton group, and in 1989 the Evening News was hailed as the first paper in the world to achieve a complete electronic system whereby everything was processed by computer up until the moment of printing.

All the time, the group was growing into the largest newspaper company in the country. In 1996 there was a management buyout from Reed, and Newsquest was formed. In turn, in 1999 Newsquest became part of Gannett, an American company, all the time seeking to expand. The group now has more than 300 free and paid for newspapers throughout Britain, including the Lancashire Evening Telegraph, Blackburn, bought in 1991, and the Citizen group of weekly newspapers, also printed in Bolton, together with numerous others.

Now, to increase capacity even further, the printing process is being moved to new premises on the Wingates Industrial Estate.

How amazed W F Tillotson would be if he could see now how far his dream had travelled . . .