YOUR favourite local newspaper is now officially one of the best things to read on the Internet.

The Pendle and Burnley Citizens, together with their sister paper the Lancashire Evening Telegraph, have been rated among the top five per cent of "sites" on the World Wide Web, the vast information network on the Internet.

Our site allows computer users all over the world to get instant access to the papers in the Newsquest group (formerly Reed Regional Newspapers) which owns the Citizen titles.

Now a New York-based service called "Point" which recommends the most interesting sites to Net "surfers" puts us in the top five per cent.

Its ratings and reviews have been featured on CNN and in many publications around the world.

The Point review says: "This site from a British newspaper group lets you experience English suburbanism at its finest."

It adds: "Curious Anglophiles and residents of Lancashire and Greater Manchester will find quaint local news and sport presented daily."

Point's staff of reviewers check the Internet daily looking for the "best, smartest and most entertaining sites around".

A Point spokesman added: "If we review a page, it means we think it is among the best five per cent of all Web sites in content, presentation and/or experience."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.