There is no shortage of commentary about Ipswich's high street. Social media threads, council debates, lazy reporting by newspapers we shall not name – the conversation about empty units, the spread of vape shops and phone repair stores, the loss of independent character, runs on and on. We have reported on plenty of it ourselves.
But there is a difference between documenting a problem and becoming part of the solution. While others have spent countless hours reporting on Ipswich's issues from a distance, we have embedded ourselves in our community. We have acquired an empty town centre property, brought it into use, and protected a building that might otherwise have become yet another statistic.
It is the proudest moment on my 16-year career in media. This is what we mean when we say purpose over pageviews.
Finding the perfect building
We spent eight months trying to find the right premises before we found it. It wasn't much to look at. But we saw something in it.
We stripped it back to shell state and started again. Four months of refitting, rewiring, and rebuilding later, it is now the home of Upperbrooks, Ipswich.co.uk's community newsroom and content studio.
The total investment came to around £85,000, covering fixtures, fittings, furniture and equipment. It was made possible by a seed round that we raised from Nation Ventures at the end of last year. No government grants. No public handouts. Just a decision to back our town with the support of our well-aligned investors.
A truly local project
We were determined that the newsroom project would reflect the values we apply to our journalism – locally rooted, community-focused, and genuinely invested in Ipswich's future. Ten local contractors worked on the design and build, and the project would not have come together without them.
Jenny Calthorpe of JC Interior Design designed the entire space. Her vision shaped everything from the layout to the feel of the room, and without her, we are not sure we could have managed the project at all. We will be sharing her story soon.
The Hudson Group handled the signage. Structural engineers Stroud Associates stepped in when we discovered that our gutters (and our neighbours') were inside our kitchen. Attwells Solicitors and Clarke and Simpson advised on the property. And when someone smashed one of our windows a couple of days after we took the building on — the day before we had sorted our insurance — Elliston Steady & Hawes replaced it.
What the newsroom is for
The newsroom will not be open to the public as a drop-in space, but we will hold open hours for members at least twice per month – opportunities for the people who fund our journalism to come in, talk to us about the biggest stories and issues affecting the town, and become a part of what we do. We will also host regular events. More on this will follow soon.
We have been operating since August 2024, and in less than two years we have become a trusted source of news, information and change for the town's business owners and leaders, community organisations, educators, cultural figures, MPs, councillors and residents. More than 46,000 visitors come to our website every month, more than 8,200 subscribe to our email newsletter — growing by more than 100 every week — and we generate more than 2.2 million views on Facebook every month, with an 11% engagement rate that speaks to an audience that is genuinely paying attention.
The newsroom cements something that has always been true of how we operate: we are not watching Ipswich from the outside. We are part of it.
The studio: professional content for everyone
On the first floor of the newsroom sits a professional content studio that we believe fills a genuine gap in the market.
The studio is equipped with three 4K Sony cameras, broadcast-quality microphones, an acoustically treated recording space, and a professional lighting rig that is set up before you arrive. It seats up to four speakers and is designed to be operated with a single console – hit record and you are away. Files are delivered to you when you are done.
The idea behind it is straightforward. Too many people in Ipswich struggle to create professional video content – not because they lack something to say, but because the barriers to entry are too high. Studios built for producers are not built for most people. Upperbrooks is. Whether you want to record a video podcast, a talking-head piece, an interview, or short-form content for social media, you can walk in, press record, and walk out with something genuinely good – with no technical background, no production crew, and no specialist knowledge required.
Self-service sessions let you record independently. Fully managed production gives you a dedicated operator who handles the technical side while you focus on the content. Pricing will be announced soon.
The bottom line
This is the first of a series of announcements we will be making over the coming weeks as we continue to build what we hope will become Ipswich's most influential and impactful media company. We are only getting started.
Anyone can write about Ipswich's empty high street. We took one of those empty buildings and did something with it.
We are proud of what we have built – but we cannot sustain independent, community-first journalism alone. If you valur our work, please consider supporting it by becoming a member for just £4.75 oper month. And if you are a local business that believes in what we are doing and you want to become a part of our town's regeneration story, we would love to hear from you. Together, we can keep delivering the kind of journalism and change that Ipswich deserves.
