"There had been talk of running the plant on limited capacity until the end of March," said managing director Alan Fraser. "But it's become apparent that there's no point carrying on. All of Purnell's work can be absorbed by the rest of the organisation."

Purnell's Emap contracts will be moving to Polestar Greaves while its Express and Mirror contracts will be moving to Varnicoat. After December its IPC and Guardian contracts will be moving to Sheffield, with some commercial work going to Spain.

One of Purnell's presses, a Cerutti 2.45m, will begin to be moved to Sheffield on Friday (30 September). The remaining four, a Cerutti 2.4m and three Cerutti 2.2m presses, will be left at the site for sale or possibly scrap.

Polestar is currently trying to sell the site for industrial development. Fraser confirmed that it had been showing various companies around but said: "It's far too early to say what exactly will happen."

"It's sad that it's all reaching its climax," said Fraser. "But with the continued conditions of low pricing, high costs and increased utility bills, it's just been impossible to carry on."

Polestar is exploring alternative employment opportunities for the 275 remaining Purnell staff.