IN 1969 the Argus moved its office and all operations from the town centre to a site on Cardiff Road, two years after the paper celebrated its 75th birthday.
The Maesglas office was built on former British Railway property. The move came from the need for expansion due to demand and the modernisation of equipment to the extent that it could not be carried out in the town centre building.
The South Wales Argus office in 1979, looking through reception to the advertising department
A fleet of South Wales Argus delivery vans
The sports department of the South Wales Argus in 1986
The news room in 1986
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This move also saw something of a technical revolution. In July 1979 the daily paper was set entirely by the method of photocomposition, the last page to be printed by the hot metal process being the sports back page.
The introduction of a computer system in 1987 alowed direct inputting, the use of computer graphics and led to investment in a multi-million pound new press to print bigger papers, faster and in colour. Type metal,which served the paper for more than 80 years, was no longer.
The news room of the South Wales Argus in 1986
The graphic studio in 1992
Dismantling the Crabtree Viscount in 1990
The South Wales Argus
First the main office was built in Maesglas but expansion swiftly followed, particularly in Tele-Ads, and led to another, smaller office adjoining the main building, which also housed the canteen.
Editorial occupied the main building with staff including reporters, photographers, editors, sub editors and feature writers. Advertising was handled in a separate department. Circulation are responsible for servicing news agents, the vans and promotional activity.
The South Wales Argus vintage van
The Crabtree Viscount printing press in 1988
The South Wales Argus
Placing a nyloprint letterpress plate onto a magnetic saddle on Crebtree press. Picture taken in the mid 80s
The machine room was equipped with a modern rotary press capable of producing up to 32 broadsheet pages at the rate of 45,000 papers an hour. A single reel of newsprint (for which we used several a day) would unroll to the length of about five miles. In this period the Argus used 2,000 tones a year - enough to stretch to Australia - and in the same period about 30 tons of printing ink.
As we approached the turn of the century, the South Wales Argus switched from broadsheet to tabloid, with the first produced on Monday, March 15, 1999. After more than 106 years as a broadsheet, the Argus launched a new look with new regular features, sports supplement, Grassroots supplement and business pages. Half the size - twice as good! That was the slogan carried on the papers tabloid launch and our readers snapped it up.
The South Wales Argus office in Newport
The South Wales Argus office, Cardiff Road, Newport
The South Wales Argus office, Cardiff Road, Maesglas, Newport
The news room in 1988
The Argus features department in 1986
The Cardiff Road office served the South Wales Argus well for more than 50 years but the need for modernisation is back on the agenda again.
The Argus left Maesglas last year - with the former office now demolished - and returned to the city centre, occupying the first floor of the Chartist Tower.
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