The Yorkshire Post and Yorkshire Evening Post are to remain in Leeds city centre after Johnston Press revealed the location of its new base.

HTFP reported on Friday that the publisher was planning to move the papers from their current base on Wellington Street, where they have been located since 1970.

The company has released a statement about the move which also reveals that sister weekly the Wakefield Express’s current offices, in Southgate, will be closed and some staff moved to join those in Leeds.

However key editorial staff from the Express will remain in Wakefield at a new office in the centre of town which will also have space for advertising staff.

The papers are set to move to the new Leeds headquarters in October, which is located at Number 1 Leeds on Whitehall Road, near the Post’s current premises.

Both the Post’s current site and the Express’ offices will be put on the market, said the company.

Number 1 Leeds is a prestigious office development, whose owner IVG also owns the iconic “Gherkin” building in London, and Yorkshire Post Newspapers is set to be the building’s main tenant.

Helen Oldham, managing director of YPN, said: “I am delighted that we have secured new high profile, quality, city centre premises for our Leeds and Wakefield businesses.

“The move signifies a sizeable investment in our people and will provide an environment in which we can take our highly regarded media brands forward positively.”

The Post’s present building, which was opened by the Prince of Wales in 1970, once housed more than 1,300 people but there are now understood less than 400 there and the printing presses, which were closed earlier this year, are being dismantled.

Johnston Press moved printing of the two Leeds-based titles to its sites at Dinnington and Sunderland in March, after more than 250 years of them being printed in the city.