Of the 58 magazines involved, 27 will be printed across the two sites, with high-run titles such as Top Gear (ABC: 175,218), Gardener's World (235,792) and Good Food (344,434) remaining at Chantry.

"We've had some very strong proposals to consider," said deputy production director David Halford. "Polestar offered us a very good deal."

Southernprint did not fair so well, losing all six of its children's magazines to Polestar Colchester, all set to transfer this summer.

"We're sad to be moving titles from Southernprint as it has been a first-class supplier," said Halford.

William Gibbons has retained production of most of its BBC titles, including History (44,036), Wildlife (51,003) and Music (51,272).

New Jarrold Printing will retain production of Easy Cook (55,852) and Easy Gardening (40,095), while St Ives and Cooper Clegg will retain some smaller-run titles and contract work.

Halford received proposals from 12 different printers for the magazines. Wyndeham Group didn't manage to acquire any of the titles, while a number of European printers apparently failed to make the grade on price.