IT will seem very strange for The Northern Echo to leave Priestgate, which has been the paper’s home since the first copy was published on January 1 1870.

Great editors such as William Stead and Harold Evans have guided the paper from the Darlington town centre street. Great stories and inspiring campaigns – too many to remember – have taken root in the famous old building.

But sooner, rather than later, The Northern Echo will need to find a new home because the paper’s offices have been sold to become part of the expanded Cornmill shopping centre.

The best guess is that Debenhams will move in and, if that happens, it will be great news for Darlington shopping centre.

Does the prospect of moving out make me feel sad? Of course it does. It is a building full of history, romance and memories, and it is fair to say that I have spent as many hours in it since 1984 as I have at home. Priestgate has been an enormous part of my life.

But it is also a building which is no longer fit for purpose for a modern newspaper business.

The printing press came to the end of its life more than 20 years ago, leaving a gaping shell where it used to noisly hammer out editions.

And with staff being lost over the decades due to the unstoppable tide of technological change, the building is simply too big, too old and too inefficient for what we need today.

What is vital for The Northern Echo – and Darlington – is to underline the message that the paper is not leaving the town it has served so well for nearly one and a half centuries.

It is true that there is a current proposal to move the production of the company’s weekly sister newspapers – the Darlington & Stockton Times, the Durham Times and the Advertiser Series – to Bradford. If that plan goes ahead, nine jobs will sadly be lost.

These are the toughest economical times I can remember for local newspapers. The world of news and advertising is moving so fast that we have to move with it or die.

But the majority of jobs, including the reporters, photographers and commercial staff will remain in the heart of Darlington, at a more suitable site yet to be confirmed.

The Northern Echo’s future is destined to be away from good old Priestgate – but rest assured the paper will not be leaving Darlington.

FEW people know more about The Northern Echo’s history than Chris Lloyd.

But while my depuity is a highly respected local historian, author and speaker, I’ve decided it may be wise to keep him locked away at Priestgate towers for a while.

Last week, he was out entertaining the ladies of North Cowton Women’s Institute and one of the duties of the speaker at WI meetings is to judge “the competition” .

It can be anything from best baby photo to most colourful tea cosy but, on this occasion, my esteemed deputy was asked to judge “the best paper aeroplane”.

Being a thorough professional, he decided that the best way to pick a winner was to have a “fly-off”. The first went backwards.

Another sailed across the village hall and landed in the chocolate cake. And the next made a promising start before nose-diving and hitting a lady in the front row, leaving her nursing a sore eye.

A letter apologising for my deputy’s reckless behaviour is winging its way to North Cowton.