Regional publisher Johnston Press is quietly dropping its experiment in introducing paywalls to some of its local newspaper websites.

As first revealed by HTFP last November, JP imposed a £5 subscription for anyone wanting to read stories in full on some of its local sites, including the Whitby Gazette in North Yorkshire and the Southern Reporter in Selkirk.

However the paywall at the Gazette has now been dropped with full stories now freely available again to users.

In a parellel experiment, some other titles, including the Worksop Guardian in Nottinghamshire, stopped uploading full stories to their websites and told readers to buy the paper instead. This aspect of the trial still appears to be ongoing.

The company has told HTFP it will be making no public comment about the trial and has even refused to confirm that it is coming to an end.

However a source at one of the titles involved in the trial said it had been a "disaster" and that the number of people subscribing had been in single figures.