Britishnewspaperarchive Reviews 

WTAF - New system has obliterated, wiped out, decades of research findings, carefully saved under topics. NOT LEAST - a solid-FT-year of research on all 800+ people involved in a Victorian-era disaster, all carefully saved as references for a WIP book, now gone. DESTROYED. NO WARNING. BEYOND DEVASTATED is an understatement.

I was struggling with the new format of the BNA website and had to speak a few times to Marion to understand some basic manouvres. However, one article I wanted using some of my credit was only partially visible. Marion quickly and effectively rectified this for me and I am very happy with the reponse.

Been using the site for years. Came to use it today, what have you done, you have completely ruined the site. Before it was so simple and easy to use, the search features were simple, you have ruined a great site. It is lousy now, even the results are hidden unless you know what you are looking for.
Also, I have a free account, all the stuff I bookmarked, saved searches etc, nothing after Nov 2025, months of bookmarks gone, vanished. Glad I do not pay, I would be in uproar, well I am, but what can I do!

Responding to the reply from BNA, no, no bookmarks after November 2025 or anything, no saved searches there at all, all gone.

The new website has lost all my filing system whereby decades! of research was itemised and had notes for relevance for each one. I used this filing system all the time. The BNA blog says people start new searches don't open saved, but it is not true, it is one's personal archive to open when needed. I paid them for it. Now I am presented with a list of all newspapers ever searched and no way to find within this, my categories. Useless. I have paid over the odds for this site for many many years and this is devastating. There seems no way to revert to the old system so I can find my files temporarily and copy them to my hard drive. I did not save by newspaper, I saved by subject!! A list of newspapers does not cut it there are far too many. Will my backup history for my computer take me back to the old website or will that be impossible. Without my files, years of research for articles is wasted and it's not as if this is a free site, I have PAID for my research, it should be kept within the filing system that was there before. It used to be excellent and so useful. It has been sabotaged. Very very upset.

The new search interface is awful.
It used to be so simple to search and filter content, but the new version has removed or hidden many of the features that made it genuinely useful. I'm genuinely shocked that this has been released in its current state.
Rather than improving the experience, it makes the product much harder to use and, honestly, makes me less inclined to use it at all.

You have just ruined a source I have been using for years. It is now far too complicated. Is there any way I can search under the old format?

Why did I not know this was going to happen until I found I had to log in to a new web page? I would have appreciated a warning e mail.

I can see from the reviews page that I am not alone in being horrified by the new format. It would seem that you may have also hidden several people's long-time research. I hope it can be retrieved.

I have read your patronising replies which suggest that we only need to read a blog for everything to become clear. We should not need a blog if the new format is as wonderful as you clearly believe. I tried an advanced search last night and it took ages longer than previously. You have removed the side bars which were the very quick means of narrowing the results down to a specific place and time. Now we have to use the irritating and time-consuming drop down filters.

Please tell me that you are keeping this under review. I hope to see many of the original search tools reinstated as soon as possible.

If something is not broken, never believe you must fix it.

For the first time, I needed to contact the British Newspaper Archive for help after the launch of their new website, as I couldn't locate my saved articles. Jamie responded almost immediately and provided clear, easy-to-follow instructions on how to navigate the new interface.

In an age where email communication is instant, I wasn't expecting such a quick response, nor such a helpful and detailed one. Sadly, truly excellent customer service seems to be becoming less common, which made this all the more refreshing.

The British Newspaper Archive exceeded my expectations, and Jamie was a superb ambassador for the company. Thank you for such prompt, professional and friendly assistance.

I use this site regularly and have always found it user friendly, until now! They have changed the entire website and have made it far too complicated! Don’t bother with it! Save your money and spend it elsewhere, with a hopefully more user friendly website

HAD A SLIGHT PROLEM WITH MY UNDERSTANDING OF HOW THE SUBSCRIPTION WORKED AND HADINADVERTANTLY SIGNED UP. MAILED THE BRITISH NEWSPAPER ARCHIVE AND HAD AN IMMEDIATE RESPONSE FROM SOPHIE WHO THEN PROCEEDED TO RESOLVE MY ISSUE WITHIN HOURS ISSUEING A REFUND. SOPHIE CAME BACK TO ME ON 3 OCCASSIONS AND WAS MOST HELPFUL. GREAT CUSTOMER SERVICE .... THANK YOU SOPHIE

Many thanks to Sophie who found the full newspaper I was looking for, and she sent me the link to it! It couldn't have been easier for me. And all of that wonderful help made me take out another subscription.

Fantastic National resource - and brilliant customer query response time!

Thank you Sophie for all your help!

They fixed my mistake
I accidentally bought a year and they fixed it to be a month right away. They refunded the difference to my card quickly and without a hassle. I'm very grateful!

Waste of money .
Paid £99 , felt like I had been mugged. had cheek to auto renew. I managed to turn off hope stays off.

Many thanks to Sophie at BNA. She managed to find an article written by my late father that was published in 1937, 89 years ago!

Joanna was extremely helpful in finding the newspapers I wished to view. Thank you

I had a problem with my suscription but Joanna helped me to solve it via email, she was very polite and efficent, I'm very grateful to her. Also the archive is so useful for research and I'm happy with it's services!

Be aware when using this site that vast periods are missing from publications and this is not indicated in the Publication Title selection. Three examples. The Aberdeen Press and Journal indicates the dates 1748 to 2005 are available, but the 12 years from 1/1/1951 to 1/1/1963 are not on the Archive. The Aberdeen Evening Express which the BNA gives dates of 1879 - 2005 has 20 years missing from 1/1/1919 to 1/1/1939. Finally the Kilmarnock Standard, 1875 - 1994 apparently, has 25 years missing between 28/12/1952 and 5/1/1978. There are probably examples for other publications too. These are not odd missing editions and should be clearly indicated otherwise it is easy to assume that there was no report of whatever is searched for whereas what is actually the case is that the BNA don't actually have the papers that they are tell you that they do. Poor, confusing and ambiguous.

Jaime was brilliant and went out of the way to help me with a important research paper.

This brilliant resource has proved an invaluable aid in my research. Where I struggled to locate a specific 19th century letter to the Editor, I reached out to the helpful team and I thanks to the swift and incisive research assistance given by Joanna I was able to find what I needed.