Pottery queens making mementos fit for a king

When Emma Bridgewater started a shop making mugs, plates and bowls in Stoke-on-Trent in 1985, The Potteries’ status as the world capital of ceramics was jeopardized.

Generations of expertise were in danger of disappearing as the north Staffordshire town was among the first to suffer the ravages of deindustrialisation in a wave of factory and mine closures.

Today, Stoke’s largest employer in the private sector is Bet365, the gambling giant headed by Denise Coates, Britain’s highest paid boss.

But it is two other successful female entrepreneurs who are leading a remarkable rebirth of the industry for which Stoke is most famous: pottery.

Down the road from Bridgewater’s operation is The Caverswall English China Company, which is run by chief executive Pamela Harper.

Bridgewater and Harper are equally optimistic about the coronation, seeing it as an opportunity to show their wares around the world.

Behind the sun-drenched brick walls of Bridgewater’s 140-year-old building, its 230 employees are hard at work putting the finishing touches on a wide variety of commemorative kitchenware.

“When I came here, I knew absolutely nothing about it,” remembers Bridgewater, 61. “What I didn’t realize was that the industry was absolutely desperate and dying.”

Walking along the Caldon Canal four decades later as it winds through Stoke, the loss of Britain’s industrial past can still be felt.

Four factories that once lined the waterway have closed, but one – Bridgewater’s, which has been visited by the King and Queen – continues to bustle.

She and her colleagues have created a Coronation collection, which consists of mugs, plates and an £80 teapot embellished with the words ‘three cheers for the King’ in hand-painted decoration.

Royal aficionados can even pick up a ceramic crown – with a price tag of £350 – to mark the occasion.

Nearby is The Caverswall English China Company, whose boss Harper says: ‘Major royal events like this are worldwide and the interest in them is phenomenal.

‘It’s a huge boost for business.’

The 66-year-old Harper says he expects sales to grow “by at least 20 percent”, but does not give further details. Her best-selling products are presentation plates – a 10-inch coronation dish costs £325.

Other popular phrases include “anything related to tea service,” she says. “People just like to drink an English tea.”

Each item goes through an average of 33 pairs of hands during production. Automation is kept to an absolute minimum.

Harper, who has extensive experience in the luxury brand industry, bought Caverswall seven years ago with her husband Peter. Together with sister company Halcyon Days, they have had no fewer than three Royal Warrants.

Harper recalls that at its peak about 100,000 people were employed in the pottery industry in Stoke, but that all changed in the 1990s when local ‘big guns’ such as Wedgwood and Royal Doulton moved offshore to cut costs.

“We strongly believe that manufacturing in your home market is very important,” says Harper. “If you’re marketing your brand for its Englishness, I like to think that’s authentic.”

Today she employs just over 100 people, working directly in Stoke and at the Halcyon Days enamel factory in Wolverhampton.

It also calls on the services of up to 150 local suppliers.

Harper’s next challenge after the coronation is the utility bills. Her furnaces use massive amounts of power.

In the meantime, she looks forward to welcoming new apprentices to her factory through the Prince’s Trust.

The number of young people [the King] has helped through the Prince’s Trust has been amazing,” says Harper. ‘He has done a fantastic job. On sustainability and eco issues… to have that vision some 35 years ago is extraordinary.”