The St Albans and Harpenden Review has always had the best interests of its community at heart.

It has led the way with campaigns and will always hold those to account when mistakes are made.

For many newspapers a campaign means nothing more than saying ‘we’ and attaching a logo. We like to do things a little differently… Who remembers the Review Half Marathon? I believe some people still call it that today. Founded by former Review owners Alan Drake and Roy Scott in 1981, the half marathon became a vehicle for local runners to raise as much money as possible and is still going strong now as the St Albans Half Marathon.

Then, in 2007 this newspaper embarked on one of its biggest campaigns yet: Save Our Shops (SOS).

Launched with the aim of driving down parking charges and the cost of rent in the city centre, the newspaper began by highlighting the number of independently owned, well-loved establishments that had sadly closed.

This newspaper continued to shine a light on the empty, boarded up shops which St Albans City and District Council would rather we forgot about. Angry traders who had lost everything were given a platform via our newspaper and pointed their collective finger in the same direction.

The council responded by offering free parking at Christmas and a discounted rate in certain areas of the city in an attempt to attract shoppers back to the city centre.

It was working but footfall was still an issue and traders were still angry. Something had to be done.

Out of town supermarkets offered free parking while selling almost every item under the sun. But St Albans offered shoppers something that Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and Morrisons could not match.

With so many independent retailers in the city centre, St Albans is a unique place to shop. The variety, customer care and knowledge on offer cannot be rivalled by a supermarket aisle.

But these traders need regular customers much more than the big brand name department stores and supermarkets.

With that in mind I met Councillor Roma Mills and St Albans Civic Society’s Marion Hammant and our Retailer of the Year competition was born.

On June 24th we celebrated our sixth annual gala awards evening.

I remember hoping the competition would be successful but I do not think any of us believed it would become the annual event it has transformed into.

Thanks to the dedication of the committee members, the competition will be around for many years to come. It has been whole-heartedly supported by members of the public while traders tell us the buzz it creates every year in the city lifts morale, but more importantly, helps business.

Two years later members of the Retailer of the Year working group launched our Festive Pub of The Year competition as we looked to help pubs in the same way.

Every job has its perks and mystery drinking with my fellow judges in the build up to Christmas is certainly one of them.

Despite moving on to edit our titles in North London I have stayed involved in both competitions.

Every year it excites me to see how far we can take these competitions, but it is also wonderful to be back in the district helping traders out as much as we can.

That, in essence, is what the Review has always been about. Going that little bit further, not necessarily shouting loudest rather asking the more pertinent questions. Attempting to make a difference to our readers via good quality journalism and campaigns that go further by striving to help those affected.

The technology may have changed an awful lot since October 4th 1973 but this newspaper’s ethos remains the same.

Martin Buhagiar (St Albans and Harpenden Review editor 2007-2011).