The newspaper is aimed at an upmarket audience

The North West Enquirer is a weekly covering stories from across Cumbria, Lancashire, Merseyside, Cheshire and Greater Manchester.

The newspaper, based in Manchester, costs �1 and is aiming for a circulation of 15,000 to 20,000.

Its launch comes after the Manchester Evening News (MEN) said it was giving away copies free in the city centre.

Owner Guardian Media Group (GMG) said the move was to combat a declining circulation.

The current circulation of the MEN is just over 130,000 but the newspaper aims to give away 50,000 free copies in the city centre from May.

We are serving a different kind of audience and we are serving the whole region Bob Waterhouse

In February, the group announced it was axing 35 jobs - one in five editorial posts - at the MEN.

But Bob Waterhouse, editor of the Enquirer, said the evening newspaper's problems would not affect his regional weekly.

"From my own point of view it's a total coincidence. It does not bode well or ill as far as we are concerned," he said.

"We have picked up one or two very good people from the evening news, which is great.

"But it doesn't mean anything for us because we are a different kind of paper.

"We are serving a different kind of audience and we are serving the whole region."

The Enquirer is aimed at the 1.3m AB adults in the North West and contains about 80 pages of news.