Book publishing giant set to open office in Sheffield - the "city of storytellers"

It is one of five new national offices the publisher is opening around the country over the next three months, with the others being in Manchester, Bristol, Newcastle and Edinburgh.

A spokesman said: “The office openings will see nearly 60 London-based staff relocate across the UK, after earlier plans were put on hold as a result of the pandemic.

“The staff relocating will be from a variety of roles and divisions across the publishing group, with the aim of having at least a hundred staff relocating by 2022. Hachette UK has also started recruiting locally as part of its commitment to forging close links with local talent and diversifying its workforce.”

The office will open in September, with seven Hachette UK staff moving into office space within a flexible co-working building at The Workstation. The office is being led by Sarah Castleton, the editorial director at Little, Brown.

Ms Castleton said: “I grew up in Sheffield, devouring the contents of the central library.

"I have been working as an editor in London for over two decades now and if you’d told me even a handful of years ago that our industry would be taking active steps to decentralise, to encourage, embrace and learn from the great wealth of regional talent, voices and experience, I would have been sceptical.

“So, very obviously, I’m proud to be at the start of that journey with Hachette UK. It’s a homecoming for me but far more importantly, I hope it will be a continuous and fruitful awakening for our business.

"Sheffield is a city of storytellers – writers, poets, lyricists, teachers – with a rich, vibrant, diverse and radical cultural arts sector.

"I can’t wait to meet the folks who make it tick, to share ideas and stories, and to invest in the life of this brilliant city, putting books at the heart of the matter.”