The publisher said in a statement sent to Printweek: “After careful consideration and full consultation with those of our colleagues whose roles have been impacted, we are now progressing with the closure of our Teesside print site.

“This decision has not been taken lightly but as part of our ongoing transformation, we continue to need to be agile in how we respond to changes in the market, in order to protect the long-term health of our business.”

Three print plants will remain for Reach following the closure; Cardonald in Scotland, Oldham, and Watford. Plants in Luton and Birmingham were closed around two years ago.

Hold The Front Page said it understands most titles produced at Teesside, including the Teesside Gazette, will now be printed in Oldham, while Newcastle titles The Chronicle and The Journal will move to Cardonald.

Last month, National World said it would not pursue its potential offer for Reach, after it had said earlier in November that it was in the early stages of exploring a possible offer for the business, but that it had not approached the Reach board about it.

Reach's Q3 and September revenue performance was “distorted by impact of the passing of HM The Queen which benefited circulation but significantly reduced advertising due to the blackout during national mourning”.

In separate publishing news, the BBC has reported that The Sunday Independent is closing its Northern Ireland edition, a year after its launch. The title is owned by European media group Mediahuis, which announced the closure of its Newry printing site in September.

The BBC said this site will be vacated by the end of this year, and that the publisher plans to contract print production to the Irish Times Group, based in Dublin, as well as other third-party providers.