Standard appoints new editor

THE Henley Standard has a new editor.

Phil Simms, 38, has stepped up from deputy editor, which he has been since 2016.

He has been a journalist for more than 20 years and worked as a sport sub-editor at the Times before he joined the Standard as a reporter in 2008, being promoted to chief reporter, news editor and then deputy editor.

Mr Simms lives near Woking with his wife Katy, a civil servant, and they have two children, Jasper, five, and Petra, one.

He said: “I am delighted to be taking over at the Standard, a successful, award-winning newspaper, which has been a large part of my life for so long.

“We have a small but talented team of journalists who, like me, are committed to maintaining the Standard’s proud history of public interest journalism and ensuring that we remain a paper of record.

“The paper will continue to inform, entertain and support the community — as all good local newspapers should — at a time when trusted journalism and the work of professional reporters and editors have never been more important.”

Mr Simms succeeds Simon Bradshaw, 65, who retired today (Friday) after 16 years as editor during which the Standard won weekly newspaper of the year.

He worked for eight newspapers and the BBC in a 44-year career and was awarded a British Empire Medal in the 2022 New Year’s honours list for his work at the Standard serving the community during the coronavirus pandemic.

Mr Bradshaw said: “I would like to thank all the journalists, past and present, our many talented contributors and, above all, our treasured readers and advertisers for helping maintain the Standard as a quality newspaper.

“I have every confidence that Phil and the team will keep up that standard.”