The top 10 stories of 2025, as told by The Raikes Journal

As The Raikes Journal approaches its second birthday we look back at the year gone, some of the headlines we made and what our best-read editions were each month. What a year it was!

Dear reader,

When February 2026 rolls around it will be the two-year anniversary of the soft launch of The Raikes Journal, a CIC with a mission to put some journalism back into the media mix for Gloucestershire.

There is, quite simply, no other digital platform in Gloucestershire that focuses on business news, is editorially-led, edited by a journalist and strives to deliver this kind of credibility.

If our audience and subcriber growth is anything to go by it’s welcome too.

I like to think that’s a result of readers also seeing Raikes as a safe port of call, a quiet space away from the maelstrom of information that batter the senses in the marketing channels that are social media.

We don’t do advertorials or lead on unchallenged press releases. Raikes is not a marketing channel. We do original journalism. It’s a crusade.

We think the county deserves better. And if you’re like-minded, want your business represented on a platform that has values and wants to help make what we do continue t…