THE success of The Journal in giving our readers unrivalled coverage of local news, sport and entertainment has paid off in rising sales, according to the latest figures from the newspaper circulation watchdog.

The Journal was one of a very small number of weekly newspapers around the country to see its circulation rise in the second half of 2011 – building on excellent half-year sales in the first six months of 2011.

The Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) said an average of 6,857 copies of The Journal were sold each week between July and December, a rise of 7.7pc compared to the second half of 2010.

Journal editor David Lennard welcomed the figures, which buck the industry trend.

He said: “We are delighted that our sales have continued to rise, particularly as this builds on our excellent figures for the first half of 2011.

“It really is a tribute to the ongoing hard work and commitment of our staff and the efforts our editorial and commercial advertising teams are making to engage with our readers and the communities we cover.”

The figures also revealed rising sales for The Journal’s sister newspapers around Norfolk and Suffolk, including the Eastern Daily Press and the Lowestoft Journal, all published by community media group Archant.

Separate statistics also show a sharp rise in readership online. There were 7,498 unique visitors to www.becclesandbungayjournal.co.uk in January this year, a rise of 42.9pc on the same month last year.

Page impressions over the same period also rose, increasing from 16,201 to 19,570 - up 20.8pc.

Johnny Hustler, managing director of Archant Anglia, said: “I must thank all our readers – this is fantastic news and a great tribute to our staff who are devoted to improving the quality of our newspapers.

“I am especially pleased that we are giving our advertisers even better value for money by increasing the size of their audience.”