£120 million investment

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Not quite sure what to make of the news that the UK Government has earmarked a £120 million investment package “to propel the UK ceramics sector into a new period of innovation, safeguarding jobs and putting it on a sustainable pathway for the future” [cit. Ceramics UK].

It is always nice to hear about financial support for the sector, but it’s coming on the back of the recent announcement that Denby, the 217-year-old Derbyshire pottery, has called in administrators and is now facing closure and the loss of almost 600 jobs. The company cited a significant downturn in profits and the surging price of gas, higher labour costs, tighter financial markets as well as a softening in consumer demand. It seems to be a common theme. The problems at Denby come at the same time that Stoke’s Wedgwood pottery announced in February that it too would be cutting jobs. And all this just a year after nearby Royal Stafford and neighbouring pottery Moorcroft also called in the administrators.

The sector is clearly going through some extremely difficult times. But this sounds a bit like shutting the stable door after the horse has already bolted.

[Photo: Halo Coupe Plates copyright Denby]

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