Report - Royal Doulton Factory Shop & Central Testing Laboratory, Stoke-on-Trent - August 2019

[MotionlessMike]

The History

I won’t drone on about this history of the former Nile Street pottery works of Royal Doulton as they were demolished several years ago now. A couple of the original workshops were due to be kept and converted, but a large fire ended that idea and they too were demolished in 2014. The last remaining building on the site is the factory shop & labs which have escaped being flattened for some reason, despite not having any kind of listed status.

For an excellent example of what the Royal Doulton site was like in its day then this report by @dweeb is well worth your time;

https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/threads/royal-doulton-ceramics-stoke-on-trent-2007-2015.99709/



The Explore

Being interested in the ceramics industry I thought that this place might be worth a look seeing as I was already in the area. The factory shop itself is situated on the ground floor and is quite easily accessed and as a result is completely battered inside and not really worth a picture. The upper floors however were (from what I can gather) used as the sites' ‘Central Testing Laboratory’ and were well worth the extra effort to see. They featured a scaled down version of everything you’d expect to find in a full size pottery works; tiny electric kilns, moulds, workshops and various finished products.


Art deco styled shop front

Like I said, the shop itself was blitzed, so we go straight up to the labs on the upper floors.
Some kind of workshop

With its own miniature electric kiln

An office in a side room next to the workshop

A cupboard full of tiny moulds

Another workshop area

Central staircase

Conference room, the floor in here is rapidly giving up the ghost

And the obligatory shot of a pile of finished ware

Thanks for looking



​

 

[Camera Shy]

Decent mate.

 

[raisinwing]

Belting stuff.

I'm really surprised that building hasn't burst into flames yet, it's only a matter of time.

 

[Brewtal]

Some nice decay in there. Good report mate.

 

[MotionlessMike]

Thanks all.

@raisinwing same mate, hope they come up with a good use for it as I see they're landscaping the site now.

 

[Bikin Glynn]

Yeah I liked that too thanks for sharing!

 

[raisinwing]

Thanks all.

@raisinwing same mate, hope they come up with a good use for it as I see they're landscaping the site now.

The councils favourite developer St Modwen's have been angling to build housing on the site for over a decade, so I guess some soulless housing estate is the sites destiny!

 

[Baggy trousers]

Great report that, good pictures too.

 

[Calamity Jane]

Like this, a few old potteries popping up lately.

 

[InTheDogHouse]

All these are fairly local to me - love to see what they're like inside these days. Great art deco exterior!

 

[MotionlessMike]

All these are fairly local to me - love to see what they're like inside these days. Great art deco exterior!

It is isn't it? Let's hope they do something with the place rather than squash it.

 

[Rosary_Boy]

cracking photos

 

[Bugsuperstar]

I like the look of this place. Great report.

 

[Gudgeon Pin]

Brilliant work mate! I was delighted to see your photos of Price & Kensington's the other day, and it's great to see inside here too. Both of these were on my hit list for a few years whilst I lived in Stoke, but I never quite managed either of them, so it's nice to finally see inside. Thanks for two great reports.

There's certainly still plenty left to go at in Stoke these days. Hudson & Middleton closed back in 2017 and looked pretty unloved last time I went passed the works. Aynsley's works in Longton were also open when I last passed by, although that was a while ago now. I was shocked to hear that Dudson's had gone under earlier this year, but sure it'll make for an interesting poke around. Apparently the Dudson family sold their shares in Furlong Mills a few months before Dudson's collapsed - now there's another place I'd love to have a good snoop around!

 

[MotionlessMike]

Brilliant work mate! I was delighted to see your photos of Price & Kensington's the other day, and it's great to see inside here too. Both of these were on my hit list for a few years whilst I lived in Stoke, but I never quite managed either of them, so it's nice to finally see inside. Thanks for two great reports.

There's certainly still plenty left to go at in Stoke these days. Hudson & Middleton closed back in 2017 and looked pretty unloved last time I went passed the works. Aynsley's works in Longton were also open when I last passed by, although that was a while ago now. I was shocked to hear that Dudson's had gone under earlier this year, but sure it'll make for an interesting poke around. Apparently the Dudson family sold their shares in Furlong Mills a few months before Dudson's collapsed - now there's another place I'd love to have a good snoop around!

Thanks mate. I had a look around Sutherland Road & Normacot Road but didn't make it past the Google Earth stage for some reason. I'll have to take a drive around and see what's what. Dudson was pretty surreal to look around to be honest, it was like your own personal episode of inside the factory (only with less Gregg Wallace).