New Report Shows Stoke’s Historic Pottery Industry on Brink of Collapse

Forbes Burton’s 2025 report on the UK’s distressed businesses uncovered a raft of famous pottery closures in 2025 as the sector struggles for viability.

• Historic names such as Moorcroft and Royal Stafford gone
• Scores of Staffordshire jobs lost
• Dwindling sales and high operating costs making sector unviable

London, 17th December 2025—Nationwide business closure firm, Forbes Burton have released their 2025 report of the UK’s distressed businesses: over 200 big brands that have had to either close, enter administration, or let go of staff or UK branches throughout the last 12 months.

Among the report’s findings is the apparent death of the ceramics industry in Stoke and the wider Staffordshire area.

After the losses of Dudson and Wade in recent years, 2025 saw the end of brands such as Heraldic Pottery, the 180-year-old Royal Stafford and the 12-year-old Moorcroft. Even Portmeirion had to make job cuts in order to survive.

Ben Westoby, business closure expert and senior consultant at Forbes Burton, suggested that changing consumer tastes and steep operating costs were likely to blame.

“Gone are the days in which a Moorcroft vase would be given as a wedding gift, with home décor in general being dominated by more disposable, low-cost items from the likes of IKEA or Chinese firms” he explained.

He added that “running industrial-level kilns and maintaining large premises only make it more difficult for such firms to survive.

Read the full report here -https://www.forbesburton.com/news/uk-distressed-business-lis...

Contact
Robbie Meechan
Forbes Burton
robbie.meechan@forbesburton.com
0800 975 0380