The main police station in Ipswich is set to close its doors for the last time on Monday.

The remaining staff at the station in Civic Drive are starting to move to their new base. The front desk of the new office will formally open to the public on Tuesday morning.

Most of the Civic Drive police station building, which has been the town’s base since the late 1960s, has been empty since most officers moved to Landmark House on the north west corner of the town in late 2012.

The new office will be manned by clerks at the front desk from 8am to 8pm seven days a week (bank holidays 9am-5pm) to help with public enquiries.

It will be the new base for the Ipswich Central Safer Neighbourhood Team with support from the Special Constabulary, along with the Town Safe Team, local community safety representatives, ID officers, the Operational Partnership Team and public protection officers – a total of about 70 staff.

Out of hours the intercom service which was available at Civic Drive has been replaced with a similar intercom at Museum Street, which connects direct to the police control room.

Ipswich policing commander Supt Louisa Pepper said: “This change of base will in no way affect any of the services offered to people living in the Ipswich area.

“The Ipswich Central Safer Neighbourhood Team will continue to operate from the new office as they did from the old police station building and officers will continue patrols as they always have.”

The Civic Drive Station was opened in July 1968. When it was built it was state of the art for the period but is no longer fit for operational use. The building will be returned to the borough council in early June.