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 16,964 copies of The Journal were sold each week between July and December, a rise of 7.8pc compared to the second half of 2010.

Journal editor Max Bennett welcomed the figures, which buck the industry trend.

'It's a tribute to the ongoing hard work and commitment of our staff and the efforts that our editorial and commercial advertising teams are making to engage with our readers and the communities we cover,' he said.

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

Separate statistics also show a sharp rise in readership online. There were 19,570 unique visitors to lowestoftjournal.co.uk in January this year, a rise of 20.8pc on the same month last year.

Page impressions over the same period also rose, increasing from 130,632 to 140,141 – up 7.3pc.

Johnny Hustler, managing director of Archant Anglia, added: '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.'