A digital archive of the Daily Mirror from 1903 will now be available to the public through a new online subscription-based service.

The Mirror's archives from 1903-1980 join those of the Daily Express, Daily Star, Sunday Express and Star on Sunday present on the ukpressonline site.

Firm Arcitext had previously supplied the archive for institutions and libraries only until July this year when it was relaunched as ukpressonline and the process of readying the archives for pubic access began.

Prices for access to the archive range from £5 for a 48-hour pass to £295 for one year, according to the site.

"The original concept was that the website should be simple, instinctive and as close as possible to searching through a newspaper to find the original, as-published page for reading and download/print - and fast, Frank Walker, manager of Digitorial, the company behind ukpressoline, told Journalism.co.uk.

The site currently offers publicly searchable archives of the Daily Express, Sunday Express and Daily Star from May 2000 to the present day, while archiving of the Daily Express from 1900-2000 is 50 per cent complete with a planned end date of early 2009, Walker added.

Public access to the Mirror's archive for 1981 to the present day is under review, he said.