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Regional daily set to move from 150-year-old headquarters

A regional daily newspaper has announced it is to sell the building which has been its home for the past 150 years.

The three-storey building in Swindon’s Old Town has been the home of the Swindon Advertiser since the 1870s.

At one point the paper occupied all three floors with a printing press on the ground floor until production was switched to Oxford in the latter 1990s.

Now with only the too floor of the Victoria Road building occupied, the decision has been made to relocate to another base in the town.

Shamus Donald, regional managing director of parent company Newsquest, said: “The offices in Victoria Road, Old Town, have been home to the Swindon Advertiser for 150 years.

“Although we are planning to move to more appropriate premises to meet the changing needs of our business, the Swindon Advertiser remains fully committed to remaining at the heart of life in Swindon.”

“We recognise that Newspaper House is an important part of the Old Town landscape and our agents have been in careful consultation with Forward Swindon to ensure that whatever happens on the site after we move on is in keeping with this special part of the town.”

The sale of the property, which has a total floor space of 3,260 square metres, is being managed by property consultants, Alder King.

James Gregory, a partner at Alder King, said: “We have had some initial expressions of interest in the property and I think it is most suited to buyers who want to convert the building into retail on the ground floor and flats or offices on the second and third floors.”

Any future development design would need to be appropriate to the local Conservation Area.

The Advertiser was founded by William Morris in 1854 and was initially based at Morris’s father’s shop in Wood Street.

It moved to Victoria Road in the 1870s after outgrowing its original home.

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