News International has announced plans to move its printing operation from its Wapping site with the loss of 700 jobs.
The site was at the centre of one of the major industrial disputes of the 1980s, when a move from Fleet Street sparked large scale protests and strike action.
This move is likely to be less controversial than the 1986 move from Fleet Street, which effectively ended the old Fleet Street national newspaper industry.
The new presses, which are too big to be housed at Wapping, will instead be at sites in Enfield, North London, Knowsley and Glasgow.
Executive chairman Les Hinton told the Independent that the move was motivated by the logistics of newspaper printing and distribution.
“To bring thousands of tons of paper into London every night is a massive logistical problem,” he said.
The editorial and commercial staff are likely to remain at Wapping as News International has a planning application for building an office block on the site of the car park.
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