BBC Radio Stoke
Leaders in the ceramics sector in Staffordshire say they remain hopeful there is a future for the industry despite the collapse of Moorcroft Pottery.
The 112-year-old Burslem-based firm announced this week it had gone into liquidation with the loss of 57 jobs.
It is the third ceramics company in the county to shut since the start of the year but bosses from local firms TG Green & Co Limited and Emma Bridgewater both have said all is not lost.
“There is certainly a future but it needs to be an ingenious future,” Ms Bridgewater, the founder of the latter, told the BBC.
She went on to call for the government to do more to support the industry.
Ms Bridgewater added: “I wish that the government saw and understood the huge crying need to rebuild our [manufacturing] industries.”
That sentiment was echoed by Charles Rickards, a director of TG Green & Co Limited, the firm that bought Royal Stafford and returned jobs to some of its workers after it also went into liquidation in February.
When asked if Moorcroft Pottery could be saved, he said: “I do – it has a lot of good assets, it has a really good brand, a good following of customers.
“Most importantly it has a great set of workers who are highly skilled who can continue to make that product.”
MoorcroftMoorcroft had warned in March of possible redundancies and at the time cited rising costs and falling sales.
The news of the firm’s collapse was the latest blow to the industry in Stoke-on-Trent, a place affectionately known as The Potteries.
Heraldic Pottery in Newstead also announced liquidation in February and that followed the closure of Dudson in 2019, Wade in Longton two years ago and Johnson’s Tiles in 2024.
Speaking of the challenges ahead, Mr Rickards added: “The pottery industry is in a perilous state and we’re at the position where the questions are being asked of the government ‘what are they going to do?’
“We’re paying higher energy costs than our European neighbours and we’re competing with China and other parts of Asia where electricity is being generated through fossil fuels and being heavily subsidised.”
Government reacts
Councillor Jane Ashworth, the Labour leader of Stoke-on-Trent City Council, also joined the calls for the government to step in to protect the industry.
“There is a list of things that the government should be doing,” she said.
“It’s pretty clear that we could have a great ceramics future, tableware needs protecting, our ceramic advance manufacturing is world-class, we need to make sure that’s cherished.
“We need to be able to introduce rent caps for landlords of small and medium enterprises in the industry, we need to have better tax breaks for ceramics, research and development.”
She went on to say subsidies were needed for energy costs.
A spokesperson for the Department for Business and Trade said they “know this will be a concerning time for Moorcroft Pottery workers and their families who may be affected.”
They added that they continued “to engage closely with the ceramics sector” to “understand the challenges and provide support”.
