Britishnewspaperarchive Reviews 

They have made something that was clear, intuitive and easy into something opaque, unwieldy and slower. Change for the sake of change- quite frustrating. They should change it back to its tried and tested formula. As it is, we have swapped a TGV for a steam-train.

The new update is awful

In the past I would have given this archive a 5 out of 5 star rating after subscribing since 2024. I had all my folders of information that I could easily access in the research for a book. Have come on to see they have updated the format.

At the moment I cant find my previously bookmarked articles. So hours of work wasted. If this is the format that is the future I don't currently see it worth while renewing my subscription.

You had a great product now you have an awful product that I would in its current form not suggest it to anyone.

Having used the BNA for years I am annoyed that all my notes related to various bookmarks are missing. This is critical because my local research relies on the details in my notes. Often column headings are broad i.e. council meeting, property for sale and auction sales. It is one specific entry within those general columns that I note.

Without them 6 months of research into a property is missing essential details.

The user interface is typical of a database, but because of the imperfections of OCR given old newsprint, does not suit my needs.

Very disappointed with the new Website, the old one was very easy to find a particular month and year of a newspaper. Not now though. There is no drop-down list of the years available for a particular newspaper, or if there is I cannot find it, before it was easy to click on year then month to search. I have now given up, hope there is an improvement soon.

The new webpage is simply ghastly. It used to be so easy and transparent, such a pleasure to use, to find articles on... it has changed into a reseacher's nightmare, it has become cumbersome and ineffective, a total disappointment. Why change what was so good to something that is just a disaster?

The new interface is now awful. It's too cumbersome, laborious to use. I've used this platform for years for my my research and only renewed for a full year 30 days ago.
If I wanted the inferior FMP search platform I would have subscribed through that. As it now stands, this platform is completely unusable for any quality research and unfortunately there's no other alternative - probably why they felt they could do what they want. I've requested a full refund as this isn't "as described" when I purchased.

I've used this site for many years, but am now very close to canceling my subscription. In short, they've unveiled a big update and largely broken it. They moved all the controls around to make them much less intuitive and convenient, but what's ever worse, they've messed up the search so that at least 1 in 3 articles you click on is nowhere to be found. Why the hell can't these people just LEAVE THINGS ALONE?

So disappointing, it was far easier to use previously.

The new version is awful, all my bookmarks which I PAID FOR have vanished, the site is no longer intuitive, they can kiss goodbye to future custom. Been subscribing since 2012, say goodbye to a loyal customer..

Further to the BNA response, I have many, many bookmarks that I've viewed, and PAID TO VIEW. previously I would let my subscription lapse for a while and work through the bookmarks, until such time as a new run of newspapers caught my eye. Now BNA claim I NEVER had the ability to view the bookmarks unless subscribed, which is UTTER NONSENSE! Now they expect me to pay them a second time to view what I'd already paid for. Err, no thanks, I'll take my money to their rival.

Sophie was very helpful in answering my questions!

How to take your Trustpilot rating form 5 stars to 1? - Install a drop down menu for every refining search feature. Bye bye to the user friendly side bar! Nobody asked for this and subscribers are now stuck in drop down menu purgatory. I'm not happy about the "get used to it or f off" attitude of the people responsible for this horrrendous change.

The archive's new version is awful-I got 279 results for a search, most of which had nothing whatsoever to do with the person I sought.

Her middle initial was "M", and absurd results included every "Mc" or "Mac"

Did nobody test this fiasco?

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