Metro renamed in Manchester

Associated Newspapers has renamed its Manchester daily free paper following an interim High Court injunction prohibiting the continued use of its existing title, Metro North West.

Today’s issue (January 24) of the paper has been retitled News North West. The ruling follows action by Guardian Media Group which publishes Manchester Metro News. A full court hearing on the issue is due to be held in May.

The High Court in Newcastle has also served an temporary injunction on Modern Times Group barring it from continuing to use the Metro name on its free daily, which launched on January 17.

This followed proceedings brought last week by Associated Newspapers, which licenced publication of a free daily under the Metro brand name in Newcastle to rival publisher TrinityMirror. Trinity Mirror’s title launched on January 11.

MTG has until midnight on Wednesday to comply.