Racing industry mourns closure of Newmarket newsagent

The Racing Post reports that News Box, which has been in operation for at least the past 70 years, relied on racegoers coming to the town’s two courses.

The store, which opened at 5am to service the racing industry, also supplied daily newspapers to local hotels – particularly during race weeks.

Nicholas Nicholson, son of owner Mark, who was in charge of the day-to-day running of the shop before it closed on 30 October, told the Racing Post: “We rely on the racing industry and people coming into the town to go racing for our profits.

“Because of Covid we have not had a proper racing season this year and people have not been able to come to the town to go racing meaning our revenue has more than halved. We did regularly supply the hotels with papers but they’ve been closed for most of the year so our profits have plummeted.”

The store’s clientele was “like a who’s who of the turf”, the Racing Post reports.

Champion trainer, John Gosden, told the newspaper: “It’s a great shame the News Box paper shop has closed. It has been one of my favourite little shops since I first came here in the 70s. It’s a sad loss to the racing industry and small businesses in the town.”