A former newspaper office where a weekly title was based for 28 years has been sold and could be turned into luxury apartments.

The Northants Herald and Post was based at Newspaper House in Derngate, Northampton, from 1984 until 2012 when it moved to a new home.

Now the building has been bought by Derngate Lofts Ltd, which has submitted plans for 64 luxury apartments, with 37 basement parking bays.

Newspaper House, pictured below, is a former Royal Mail sorting depot but was bought in 1984 by the former Northants Post newspaper group.

The paper, which is now owned by Local World, reports that the 26,000 sq ft building is being sold by Tony and Marie Boullemier, two of the Post’s founders, who also launched Derngate Gym there in 1986.

Marie ran the gym there for 28 years until she closed it and retired last September.

Since 2013, the Looking Glass Theatre operated in the basement of the building, which previously housed a snooker club, but moved to new premises last week.

Tony said: “It has not been possible to re-let the old newspaper offices so conversion to residential is the ideal solution.

“The building has served us very well. It was headquarters for our newspapers, employing 230 people at their peak and it was an ideal site for the gym.

“But it’s now around 60 years old and needs to be brought into the 21st century.”

After he sold the paper in 1988, the title stayed on in the building until 2012 and is now based at offices in Bedford.

The plans, which have been submitted to Northampton Borough Council, include creating two extra floors on top of the building, demolishing part of the former offices and creating a new main door.

A spokesman for Derngate Lofts said: “This is a very exciting development in the heart of Northampton’s Cultural Quarter.

“It will add to the vibrancy that is being brought to the town centre by the many Northampton Alive projects and will transform a redundant building into top quality apartments.

“It represents a multi-million pound investment and is likely to be occupied by people who want to take advantage of its very central position to frequent the theatres, restaurants and coffee houses on the doorstep”.