Executives at News International said the move, less than a year after the compact edition was launched, was due to "reader demand".

The Monday to Saturday editions of the paper are now all-tabloid, while The Sunday Times will remain as a broadsheet.

The switch, announced just two weeks after NI revealed a 600m overhaul of its press facilities, will also drastically reduce the costs involved in producing both broadsheet and tabloid editions.

In a statement, Paul Hayes, Times Newspaper general manager, said: "Sales in Northern Ireland, Scotland and the West Country rose significantly when we became a compact-only newspaper."

September's ABCs show that monthly sales for The Times have risen by 4.53% year-on-year to 654,649.

The Daily Telegraph expects to poach a number of die-hard broadsheet fans from The Times. It was quick to capitalise on the move, running a strapline in Monday's edition trumpeting the paper's content as "the best in broadsheet journalism".

Story by Josh Brooks