The museum closed its doors for the final time at its existing location in the city, in an annex of St James’ Mill, in Whitefriars, in October and had been due to reopen inside St Peter Parmentergate in King Street this summer.

But the Eastern Daily Press (EDP) reported yesterday (23 January) that, after further investigations into the viability of the new location were carried out, the proposal was abandoned, partly due to concerns about whether the floor in the church would be strong enough to hold the machinery displayed at the museum.

Pete Joyner, a spokesman for Jarrold, told the newspaper: “The trustees [of the museum] did not think on closer inspection that it would be the right location so are now continuing to look for an alternative.”

He added “a number of options for the museum” were being looked at.

When the plan to move to St Peter Parmentergate was announced, Jarrold said the museum would be renamed The Norwich Printing Museum and would include the John Jarrold heritage collection and “most of what was included in the previous museum”.

Redevelopment plans to build 218 new homes as well as apartments and commercial space at the Whitefriars site on Barrack Street, which is owned by Jarrold & Sons and also formerly housed the Jarrold Printing business, were originally submitted last year and approved in March.

While the old printing factory had already been flattened to make way for the redevelopment, the Printing Museum was still located there in what was the engineers’ workshop, but that site will now also be demolished.

The museum originally opened in 1982 and has moved before within the Jarrold facilities. It has an archive and extensive collection of equipment ranging from hand composing to phototypesetting, and from letterpress to litho and binding, much of it donated by other printing companies.

The collection includes what is thought to be the only surviving example of a Ratcliff direct lithographic press, dating from 1927 and donated by Curwen Studios in London.