The Greenwich Wire aims to provide public interest journalism for the borough of Greenwich and nearby parts of southeast London.
Its origins came from a personal blog which began in 2008. The blog’s focus evolved when founder Darryl Chamberlain attended a Greenwich Council meeting a year later and was horrified at the treatment of a member of the public who had come to speak about a petition. He realised that no reporter was covering the meeting, and realised there was a yawning gap to be filled.
In 2017, Darryl asked readers to start contributing financially towards the site, then known as 853, and it evolved again, from an opinion-led website into one providing news. In 2023 the site was relaunched and renamed The Greenwich Wire.
Following cutbacks at the legacy titles, it is now the only news website that is dedicated to covering Greenwich borough. Accept no imitations.
The site reports on issues that are ignored or missed by traditional outlets, holding decision-makers to account, mainly in Greenwich, but occasionally in Lewisham or Bexley where the story will be of wider interest. It has broken stories of both local and London-wide interest: public transport cuts, councillors saying one thing and doing another, curious funding decisions, controversial planning decisions, and what council allies are really up to.
It has one part-time editor/reporter – Darryl – who is paid by over 140 readers who pay monthly sums into the site via Steady, PressPatron and Patreon. We occasionally pay freelance reporters, while we are also part of the BBC’s Local News Partnerships scheme, with copy from local democracy reporters available to us.
The site is part of the Independent Community News Network while we also work alongside the Public Interest News Foundation to fight our corner in a local news industry which favours established legacy titles over start-ups like ours.
Since the pandemic the site has reached a ceiling in terms of what one person is able to provide. During 2023 and 2024 we will be working with the consultancy News Spring to build The Greenwich Wire’s audience and increase the site’s income.
Flyover Media 