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The report, which gives average circulation figures for the first six months of 2009, shows regional publishers across the UK, including Trinity Mirror, Northcliffe Media, Guardian Media Group, Johnston Press and Newsquest, are facing year-on-year declines at most of their dailies, weeklies and freesheets.

Trinity Mirror's Birmingham Mail and Birmingham Post, currently the focus of an overhaul that could see the Post turn into a weekly, were down 14.6% and 5.6% year on year, to 56,495 and 12,076, respectively.

The ABC figures showed Johnston Press' leading paid-for dailies fell across the board year on year. The Yorkshire Evening Post was down 13.6% to 46,013, the Sheffield Star and Green 'Un down 10% to 45,233 and Portsmouth's The News and Sport Mail was down 9.3% to  48,191.

But John Fry, chief executive at Johnston Press, said he was confident the declines at regional papers were not irreversible and improved availability, a subscriptions push and focus on editorial had lead to a recent increase of "a couple of percent".

The company's six-month results, released last week, revealed ad revenues tumbled by almost a third compared to the same period last year, but Fry said spend would return when the economy improved.

"There will be a bounce. It may not be as a high as the cliff we fell off, but there will be a bounce," he added.

Edd Lucas, regional communications planner at BLM Local, said the proportion of its spend going into regional press was decreasing, with better deals on offer in outdoor and better results from door-to-door.

"Some clients perceive that local readerships are getting older and more downmarket," he added. "That's not necessarily the case, but if I give a client the option of the Bristol Evening Post or The Times, they're going to go for The Times."