The Portsmouth Evening News was founded in Portsmouth in 1877 by James Graham Niven as a daily evening paper. Niven managed the paper himself and also fulfilled the roles of reporter, editor, and distributor. It comprised 4 pages and cost a halfpenny.

In 1883 Niven sold a majority share to Samuel Storey but continued to publish the paper. Durham-born Storey had been a Liberal MP for Sunderland since 1881 and already owned the Sunderland Echo and the Tyneside Echo. He was part of a syndicate with Scots-American steel magnate Andrew Carnegie, buying up newspapers with a view to furthering their political aims by strengthening the radical Liberal press. By the end of 1884 the Syndicate owned a substantial number of daily and weekly papers and when it broke up in 1885, Storey retained a controlling interest in the Portsmouth Evening News, Sunderland Echo and Northern Daily Mail.

The Evening News was run as a separate company until 1934 when it became part of Storey’s Portsmouth and Sunderland Newspapers Ltd.