The Express and Star is a local newspaper targeted at those living in the Black Country and the…read morewider West Midlands area. The Star is Britain's best-selling regional newspaper. The Sandwell Chronicle is also published at the Express and Star Headquarters in West Bromwich. I read the Express and Star as well as the Sandwell Chronicle. Reading them is a great way for me to get an idea of what is happening in my local area. Although I visit the Star website, I do like having a physical copy of the newspaper. I have worked at the Express and Star previously and I had a very good time there. Working at the Star gave me my first insight into the world of journalism and how the media works. The journalists whom I worked alongside made me more than welcome and the environment they work in inspired me to want to get into journalism.

I grew up reading the Express and Star and have completed several placements in its various…read morenewsrooms. It is the biggest selling evening regional newspaper in the country, flying in the face of those who relish declaring the death of print media. It is something of a Black Country institution, with local issues for Wolverhampton, Dudley, Sandwell and Walsall amongst others. The editorial tone is perhaps more right-wing than I like from my newspaper and I miss the fashion and lifestyle supplements that they used to publish. They cover a lot of community events and stories, proving that there is still a big demand for this sort of news coverage. I tend to get most of my news online now, but I'll always have flick through my Nan's copy of the E&S. The daily TV listings and classifieds are really useful, as are the property pages when house hunting.

A local corner shop thats not on a cornerStars is twinned with a post office and serves the…read morecommunity very well whether you need that morning paper or to post a parcel that's to big for the letterbox. This place always has friendly staff and is very competitive on price and is in a great place to capture a lot of local trade and perhaps some people who are driving into Birmingham.

great little newsagents with funny staff sell all your confeshinaryread more

yes iv been in here loads of times very friendly staff and lots to bye there so yes ill go back…read moreagain

Man Oh Man..... I…read morefelt genuinely sad walking into Cradley Heath Market. When i was a kid i would come here every week with my grandparents while they went shopping and i had fond memories of it. I remember it being crowded and having to wait in line at some stalls to be served, having been there as a child i remember the toy stalls vividly; all the colours and recognisable characters from the cartoons. A warm memory. Going back now, today in fact, was a sad trip. This place (like most markets) are in fast decline. I walked around and counted around 9 active stalls, most of which were barebones and had little stock. Some had no shop keepers attending at all. The most active stall was the butchers near the front. Its heart wrenching that its all come to this, when Tesco came into town it basically put the last bullet in the head of all independent businesses. There was no one walking around at all, like something from a horror film. I wonder if we will ever see a resurrection of small indoor markets outside of big cities? Who knows.

Visiting this place is kind of sad. Maybe it is the harsh fluorescent lighting or the general…read moreemptiness, but every time I visit I find myself wondering how it survives. Cradley Heath's independent traders have struggled since Tesco opened a behemoth of a store on the high street. And nowhere is this more apparent than on the market. Doom and gloom aside, I quite like some of the stalls, especially the Teddy Gray's sweet stall and the household good stall (great for cheap cleaning products and kitchen roll). There's a decent fish mongers tucked up in the back right hand corner. The Market café has been the scene for many of my hung-over Saturday morning breakfasts. Don't let the appearance of the place put you off (it is perhaps best described as "a bit skanky"), they do a great full English. Pay it a visit and show some support. Places like this are fading fast and only our custom can keep them going!