Archant has been a family-owned business since its inception 160 years ago. Today it is a growing media business and the leading family-owned independent regional newspaper group in the UK.

It was in 1845 that Jacob Henry Tillett, Jeremiah Colman, John Copeman and Thomas Jarrold started the Norwich-based Norfolk News. The Colman and Copeman families still retain close involvement in the business.

The Eastern Weekly Press was launched in 1867 and in 1870 was renamed the Eastern Daily Press. A sister title, the Eastern Evening News was launched in 1882. As the business grew it moved premises in 1902, 1959 and again in the late 1960s to its present headquarters location at Prospect House in the centre of Norwich.

At the end of the sixties, Eastern Counties Newspapers began its corporate expansion with the coming together of ECN with the East Anglian Daily Times Company to form Eastern Counties Newspapers Group (ECNG).

ECNG developed further with the launch of Community Media Limited (CML) in 1981, a weeklies publishing operation based in Bath which launched and acquired titles in Scotland and the West Country.

In 1985 ECNG purchased the East Anglia-based Advertiser group of weekly free newspapers. These businesses operated as separate entities until the mid 1990s when they were brought together under the ECNG banner.

ECNG itself grew in 1993 when it bought four weekly newspapers in Huntingdon, Ely, Wisbech and March from Thomson. The acquisition of Peterhead-based P Scrogie followed shortly afterwards.

In September 1996 ECNG entered the rapidly developing world of electronic publishing with the launch of its own internet publications and website design services.

In April 1998 ECNG bought Home Counties Newspapers Holdings plc with an agreed bid of approximately £58m. HCNH published a range of 26 weekly paid and free titles across Greater London and the Home Counties. The title portfolio included the Hampstead & Highgate Express, the South Essex Recorder series, the Herts Advertiser series, the Comet series, the Herald group and the Welwyn & Hatfield Times.

Consumer magazine publisher Market Link Publishing, now Archant Specialist, based in Essex was acquired by ECNG for £5m in autumn 1999. Its titles now include Photography Monthly, Professional Photographer, Pilot and Sport Diver.

The launch of a county magazine in Norfolk in 2000 saw the beginning of what is now Archant Life, the country's biggest publisher of county magazines. The division was subsequently given scale through acquisitions in the North West, the Cotswolds and the South and South East of England.

In March 2002, ECNG changed its name to Archant, a move prompted by the broadening geographic scope and growing range of its activities.

In December 2003, Archant purchased 27 weekly newspapers from Independent News and Media in two separate deals worth up to £62m. The titles included the Islington Gazette, the East London Advertiser, the Barking & Dagenham Post and the Kentish Times series.

In early 2005, Archant acquired two magazine publishers Romsey Publishing Group, which became part of Archant Specialist, and Highbury Local Publications, which became part of Archant Life and Archant London.

In summer 2005, Archant Anglia was merged with Archant Norfolk and the newly created Archant Herts & Cambs, a division of Archant Regional.

In early 2006, Metropolis Publishing's six London lifestyle magazine titles were added to the Archant Life stable. They were quickly joined by six county magazine titles in the Midlands from Advent Media.

In April 2007, Archant Scotland's eight newspaper titles were sold to Johnston Press for around £11m.