From left to right: John Burgess. Robert Nelson Burgess. Sir John Burgess. These three portraits are about to become four. 

From next Monday, Robin Burgess will no longer be chief executive of CN Group. But Robin will retain a presence in the boardroom at Dalston Road, Carlisle. His photograph will hang alongside those of three previous generations of the Burgess family.

Robin is retiring after 40 years with the media company whose titles include The Cumberland News.

He has been in charge for 31 years: hiring editors, buying newspapers and radio stations, launching magazines and websites, and at times making less popular decisions such as laying people off.

He is the fourth generation of his family to be at the heart of the company which keeps this region informed and, hopefully, entertained.

The dynasty was born in 1867 when John Burgess began working as a reporter for The Patriot. His son, Robert Nelson Burgess, created The Cumberland News by merging the East Cumberland News and The Patriot.

Robin’s father, Sir John Burgess, created Border Television. But his heart was in newspapers. Like father, like son.

“The newspapers have always been there in my life,” says Robin. “Occasionally my older sister Anne, my younger brother Charlie and me were allowed to go along to English Street, where ‘Daddy’s office’ was. In the old case room they would make a slug of type with our names on.”

Looking at Robin now, the grey-haired grandee who turns 65 on Sunday, you might think his environment has always been the boardroom.

Not so. His working life began as a soldier. Robin spent three years as an officer with the King’s Own Royal Border Regiment, stationed in Cyprus, Colchester and Northern Ireland.

“I thoroughly enjoyed it,” he recalls. “Here I was at 18, 19, in charge of 30 men.”

This was in the early 1970s. Northern Ireland was not an easy place for a British soldier. Robin remembers “once or twice being shot at. I had to put my head down quickly. But it wasn’t too close.

“We were stopping people marching at the time. I had blocked a road. [Mid Ulster MP] Bernadette Devlin came up to me and started thumping me on the chest. She said ‘This is my country, not yours. I want to march in it.’

“You just have to make sure you don’t lose your cool. I was just telling her I had my orders.”

Robin was in Londonderry on Bloody Sunday – January 30, 1972 – when members of the Parachute Regiment shot unarmed civilians during a march, killing 14.

“We didn’t see any of the shooting. We spent the next three nights on standby in case of flare-ups, in a hangar with no heating. It was my 21st birthday. That wasn’t much fun.”

There were times when Robin was afraid. He had to be. “You learn to be scared. That keeps you alive. We were conscious that around the next corner somebody could be ready to shoot you.”

He returned to Civvy Street, as a management trainee in East Anglia with publishing company Emap. This was with a view to eventually succeeding his father at CN Group.

“My father didn’t push me into it. But clearly ‘the family business’ was always there. I toyed with the idea of staying in the army but decided it wasn’t for me long term. I suppose newspapers were in my blood.”

He worked in all departments at Emap, including a stint as a reporter for the Bury Free Press in Bury St Edmunds.

“The editor said I was a very good reporter but a useless writer. I could go out and ask questions. But when it came to writing it, I was incoherent!”

Robin returned north to join the family business in the mid 1970s. After a spell in west Cumbria he came to Carlisle as CN Group’s advertising director, becoming chief executive in 1985.

Any resemblance between a war zone and a newspaper company is not immediately apparent, unless a deadline is looming. But Robin’s army career has proved useful here.

“When I was training to be an officer, the man in charge of our platoon was a Royal Signaller called Sam Cowen.

“He taught me about man-management. About taking people with you. Making sure you communicate with people so they knew what was expected of them. And also that you cared. It always seems to be managers that care about the people that work for them who make the biggest difference.”

Robin wanted CN Group to focus more on what readers and advertisers wanted. Tough decisions included making some printers redundant.

“There were some sadnesses. You were dealing with people who had been your friends. But I can honestly say I’ve never had a sleepless night about the business. You can’t stand still and just allow the business to disintegrate.”

Sir John Burgess died in 1987. Robin still feels his father’s influence in how local newspapers should operate, not least in earning their readers’ trust.

“He stares down on me every day from the wall. He was very proud of the fact that he hadn’t made anyone redundant. There was always someone saying ‘It would never have happened in Sir John’s day.’ I learned to let it bounce off me. I had to do it my way.”

The past few years have seen Robin, and media executives around the world, grapple with the economic downturn and strive to make money from digital journalism.

“It’s difficult to know exactly where digital is going to take us. There’s a whole new exciting world unfolding. The business model to make it pay is what’s causing some angst at the moment. But I am very positive about that side of things.”

It all seems very serious sometimes. The days of journalists enjoying boozy lunches are long gone. Robin agrees that there are fewer characters now.

“But that happens in every generation. The place ran on alcohol, I suspect. In 1972 when Edward Heath was selling off state pubs, my father looked into buying the Duke of York [near CN Group’s Carlisle HQ] on the principle that many of our staff drank there so there was lots of money to be made!

“We had lots of fun in those days. Burns Nights, ‘Cumberland neets’ where people would speak in Cumbrian dialect. The paternalistic way of doing things has gone. It’s nice that people felt part of a family grouping. But society has moved on.”

Miller Hogg takes over as chief executive on Monday, when Robin will be planning a skiing holiday.

The Burgess family retains a majority shareholding in CN Group, which is one of the few local media companies still independently owned.

Robin will become chairman at the AGM in May. His brother Charlie, a former Fleet Street journalist, is a director.

Robin and his wife Alex have a son and three daughters. Could a Burgess one day return to the CN Group hot seat?

“Anything is possible, but none of them are showing any interest. My children are convinced that I’m going to become a sad old man with a bobble hat at Carlisle Station. Because I quite enjoy trains.”

Retirement may not include trainspotting but it will allow more work with charities including Cumbria Community Foundation, Carlisle Cathedral Development Trust and the Calvert Trust, which provides outdoor adventure for people with disabilities.

He and Alex are hoping to travel in Europe, with Robin feeling the benefit of a new knee and a new shoulder. He remains an imposing figure, even after his posture has stolen an inch from his 6ft 5ins frame.

“I’ve never considered myself to be old yet,” he says. “Everyone else is growing old around me.”

This week Robin has visited CN Group’s offices to say goodbye. He has been part of many people’s lives, directly and through his media. Now that his own life is about to change so fundamentally, has it really sunk in?

“I suppose it has,” he says. “Life moves on. Now is the time to retire. And just make sure I’m keeping enough involvement so I know what’s going on and not so much that I annoy people.

“I’ll miss lots of things. The excitement is still there when the big stories happen. We have covered some massive stories – things like the Lockerbie disaster, the floods, the Derrick Bird shootings – and covered them very well.

“I’ll miss the smiles I suppose as well. Everybody has their good times and bad times. But it’s been a cheerful place.

“Both my brother and myself are prone to cry from time to time. That might be the case on Friday. I will feel emotional about it.”

John Burgess. Robert Nelson Burgess. Sir John Burgess. Hugely influential men in their time. Soon to be joined by a new face on the boardroom wall.

“They all look rather stern,” says Robin. “I’m hoping to manage a bit of a smile. The big question is, should it be black and white or colour? Some people have said black and white, for continuity. I’m for colour, for progress.”