Flagship title The Ipswich Evening Star was the final publication to be printed on the presses. The Star and 16 other publications have moved to Archant’s Norwich facility.

The press is now being decommissioned, with Archant open to offers. Although managing director Nick Schiller told PrintWeek that he was not confident of a buyer appearing in the current financial climate.

Schiller paid tribute to the staff at Ipswich. There were 28 employees at the plant when it announced plans to close, many of whom took redundancy.

He said: "I must emphasise how well the team have done, they have known this has been coming for 18 months but there has been absolutely no drop off in performance from them at all.

"The team has been together for years, it is such a strong team. Now some of them are even staying on a little longer to help decommission the press. I have been very impressed. They have consistently produced papers on time and to a high standard and last year they were awarded 2008 Archant Print Team of the Year."

Archant’s Norwich plant is nearing completion and Schiller added that it should be completely finished in the next three months.