Great Britain Dudson Pottery - Sept 19

[BikinGlynn]

Dudson is a British company that manufactured tableware, glassware and porcelain. It is one of the oldest brands of its industry in England, founded in 1800. It was also one of the first pottery companies to identify a need to serve specifically the hospitality market, and began to serve exclusively this segment soon after its launch. In 1891 it even developed a stronger type of vitrified china for the hospitality market and it's believed to be one of the first globally to do so.

Dudson went into administration on 4 April 2019. blaming "A deterioration in sales and increased costs" as a reason for the closure.

However, local pottery company Churchill China bought the rights to the brand and two of its most popular ranges - Harvest and Evo in April 2019 and began manufacturing immediately in its own factory. On 6 June 2019 Churchill relaunched the Dudson brand with the Harvest and Evo collections already in stock.

Ian Dudson of the Dudson family has served as the Lord Lieutenant of Staffordshire since 2012

Workers received the bombshell news after turning up for their shifts at Tunstall's Dudson factory that morning and being directed to a meeting in the canteen.

They were told that administrators have been called in and were asked to leave the premises.

A total of 318 of Dudson's 390 employees were made redundant with immediate affect, while the remaining 72 staff were retained to support the closure of the business.


The Explore


Bit of a weird one for me this walking round a fully lit factory with forklifts still on charge waiting for the administration crew to come in at any time.

Didnt so much jump on the tour bus rather just happened to be up there at the right time so thought we would have a go & it was unbelievably easy explore.

Felt quite at ease too with the only slight fright being literally bumping into Pretty Vacent in there at 5am. (not sure who was the most scared lol)

Those who have visited will notice my pics only cover a fraction of the place, unfortunately this was the day I suffered a corrupt card & lost the entire rest of the day but thought what I had may be worth sharing so hope you enjoy.

Even Had time for a quick cuppa ;-)

Thanks For Looking

 

[The_Raw]

That looks pretty impressive

 

[BikinGlynn]

That looks pretty impressive

All machines were labled up with lot numbers or other company names as they had already been sold.
TBH not the sort of place Id normally head too (far too clean) but would of been rude not to while we were there

 

[AndyK!]

Love this, good to see so much equipment etc left too

 

[BikinGlynn]

Love this, good to see so much equipment etc left too

Dont know what its like now but guessing most of it has gone ;-(

 

[jtza]

Something I need to see considering it’s not too far. I like the fact it’s clean, makes it a little different. Nice report

 

[BikinGlynn]

Something I need to see considering it’s not too far. I like the fact it’s clean, makes it a little different. Nice report

Yeah as above Im not sure if anything is left now, but needs someone local to go check it out ;-)

 

[jtza]

Yeah as above Im not sure if anything is left now, but needs someone local to go check it out ;-)

I think the security has been stepped up and it’s bit more difficult to get in now. Not 100% sure. I’ll definitely be looking when I spend a day down that way soon.

 

[Dubbed Navigator]

Thought I was looking at a report from Fletchers for a minute,
Lovely looking explore, utter shitter for the redundant.

Nice one.