A regional daily is set to move out of the office where it has been based since Victorian times for a new headquarters – with firefighters the unlikely beneficiaries.

The Swindon Advertiser is set to leave the Victoria Road premises it has called home since the 1870s at an unspecified date later this year.

The Advertiser has declined to reveal the location of its new base, but firefighters have been able to take advantage of the newspaper’s preparations for departure from their current building.

Dorset & Wiltshire Fire Service approached the newspaper about using a vacant floor at Victoria Street for training exercises, and firefighters have since used its former newsroom, administration offices, press hall and production spaces to simulate scenarios they may face in the line of duty.

Firefighters training at the Advertiser’s office

Editor Pete Gavan told HTFP: “One of our reporters was out on a job with firefighters and from that the fire service approached us and asked if they could use part of the building for training.

“We’ve got a floor that is currently unoccupied and that’s the one they used. It’s great to be able to lend support to this vital service.”

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

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

At one point the paper occupied all three floors of the building before production was switched to Oxford in the late 1990s.

The paper’s owner Newsquest first announced its intention to sell Victoria Road in 2014.