ONCE it was filled with the sound of clattering typewriters, ringing telephones and the roar of the printing press.

But in the decades before the Adver moved from its home of more than 160 years much of the building in Old Town started to fall silent.

The advance of technology and a shrinking staff meant that by 2016 only the reception and top floor were used, and a move to modern offices in Dorcan for editorial and advertising staff was made in spring 2018. These images show the inside of the building in the run up to the departure as decades of history was packed up to be taken to the Adver’s new home, entrusted to new guardians or disposed of.

In the long abandoned photographic department there were boxes and boxes of negatives, some of them glass plates dating back to the 1940s. Two enlargers stood ready and waiting for 35mm negatives that would never come. The processors were gone from the darkroom, only empty shelves and posters of instructions on how to mix chemicals or developing times were left. The smell of fix still hung in the air.

Along the corridor the managing director's office, unused for some years, a plaque commemorating William Morris, who founded the paper in 1854, was still in its place on the windowsill.

The old first floor newsroom, once busy with reporters, feature writers, sub editors, sports writers and photographers, lay empty and dark. Piles of bound volumes stored there would later be taken to the Oxford Mail offices for safekeeping.

Cuttings and photographs in the library were sorted by feature writer Barrie Hudson with help from colleagues. What could be kept was carefully boxed up and transferred to Dorcan.

Downstairs the old print hall was quiet. The press was taken out a couple of decades ago and printing moved to Oxford. But the smell of ink still lingered in the air and evidence of the past was all around.

If you're interested in Swindon's history from the 70s to the 2000s why not join our We Grew Up in Swindon Facebook group here.