The Ipswich Star is to get more colour pages thanks to a shift in printing to a high-tech print centre near Norwich within the next 18 months.

The current print centre in Lower Brook Street in Ipswich will close.

The Star's sister paper, the East Anglian Daily Times, is already printed at the modern Thorpe printworks.

Despite the shift to a new press, the Star itself will continue to be produced in Ipswich with journalists, production and advertising staff based in offices in the centre of the town.

The move is to meet demand from advertisers and readers and will result in a more flexible print operation in Norwich to eventually give full colour on every page for all titles owned by the Archant group.

Spokesman Keith Morris said it would make the group the largest regional publisher to provide this level of colour.

He said: "The new capacity we are putting in will require additional people to run the plant and those whose jobs will be made redundant in Ipswich will have the opportunity to apply for any new posts created at the enlarged Norwich print centre.

"Closure of the Ipswich print centre doesn't signal the start of a withdrawal from Ipswich. Many of the Ipswich titles are already printed in Norwich and this move will mean improvements for the remaining titles.

"Our Suffolk readers and advertisers will be better served. None of the editorial, advertising, and publishing teams based in Lower Brook Street, Ipswich will be impacted by this decision and we will continue to have a high profile at the heart of Ipswich and the county."