THE Telegraph newspaper group is creating 100 new jobs in Medway with the move of its subscriptions department to Chatham.

The group, which publishes the Daily and Sunday Telegraph, has already begun recruiting for the 100 new positions created by the move to Victory House, an office block in the centre of Chatham. Refurbishment of the offices in the block that used to house the Lloyds Bank financial services, is already under way with the centre expected to be up and running by November this year.

The Telegraph Group decided to relocate from Canary Wharf in London following its decision to bring its subscriptions function, which had mainly been out-sourced, back in-house. The Telegraph has the highest subscriptions rate of all national papers, with three times the amount of its nearest rival, The Times.

Mark Lyndsell, Group Call Centre Manager at the Daily and Sunday Telegraph, said the group wanted to find a cheaper location for the department than Canary Wharf. He said: "We looked at a lot of areas in the South East but chose Chatham because the local work force is skilled, we have a cost-effective city centre location and the transport links into Medway and to London are excellent. All these things are the recipe for success."