MK1 Escort Mexico Drive Out To The Price and Kensington Teapot Works
Towards the end of the summer I took a drive out in the Mexico to the Price and Kensington Teapot Works in Longport, Stoke-On-Trent…
Many moons ago, right at the start of my fledgling management career I started off working in the pottery industry at Wedgwood in the Work Study department. It was very interesting work which saw me work across most of their factories at the time including Masons Ironstone, Coalport, Johnson Brothers, Royal Doulton, and of course the Barlaston Works of Josiah Wedgwood. To be honest I loved my time there; the people, the factories, the old fashioned methods and time served skills of some of the workers, many who had worked there generation after generation for hundreds of years. However, it was a time of great change in the 1990’s. Cheap imports and modern machinery decimated the pottery industry and one by one, most of the great old pottery companies fell by the wayside. Sadly, many of the great buildings and factories are also now gone, flattened for new warehouses or housing developments.
One that has just about survived, until recent years, is the old Price and Kensington Teapot Works in Longport, an amazing old pot bank complete with huge works shops, bottle kilns, chimneys, offices and warehouses. Built in the late 18th century it is actually a grade-II listed site, but you woulden’t know it. It’s fallen into serious disrepair over recent years and has fallen victim to countless arson attacks. The bottom line is that the writing is on the wall – or what’s left of the wall!
I don’t get back to Stoke very often nowadays, but a little while back I had to give somebody a lift into Stoke, and as I had a little time on my hands, I decided to have a drive over to the Kensington works to get a few snaps with the Mex. It was so sad to see it in the condition it is, but it made for an interesting back drop if nothing else. Hopefully somebody with bottomless pockets will come along and save it soon, but I’m not holding my breath…
Popular searches on eBay for the best;
MK1 Ford Escort: https://bit.ly/3ZnkVAx
MK2 Ford Escort: https://bit.ly/3RpkbJ6
Ford Capri: https://bit.ly/44VAnVH
Ford Cortina : https://bit.ly/3PNTRr0
Escort RS Turbo: https://bit.ly/4530pGD
Escort Cosworth: https://bit.ly/3RpyzkB
Sierra Cosworth: https://bit.ly/3rrq1yU
