A glossy monthly, the Northampton Town and County Independent, edited by Bernard Holloway and the local author-editor Lou Warwick, was also published by the same company, which was once part of the United Newspapers group headed by Lord Barnetson.

The Chron's main competitor was the weekly Northampton Herald & Post (circulation 45,582),[5] which was free and delivered throughout the town and surrounding areas but was in comparison lighter on news and heavy on advertising, until it ceased publishing in 2016.

[6] Among the Chronicle & Echo's most notable journalists were author Michael Green, who wrote The Art of Coarse Rugby, scriptwriter Alistair Foot, the Guardian's readers' editor Ian Mayes, chairman of the Sportswriters Association Barry Newcombe, former Boxing Board of Control general secretary John Morris, theatre historian Lou Warwick, and author and editor John Marquis (formerly of Reuters and Thomson Newspapers), whose books about the Sir Harry Oakes murder case and the Haitian tyrant Papa Doc have found an international audience.

Valentine Low, a journalist on the Times, columnists Yvonne Roberts and Matthew Engel also worked on what is known locally as "The Chron".

The paper's chief sub-editor Stanley Worker kept a copy in his desk and, during rare dull moments, would proudly peek at references to himself.

Green, Foot, Marquis and Warwick were all at different times editor of the Chronicle's long-running daily 'chat' page, called Town Talk and County Gossip by Hamtune.