J.H.Weatherby & sons. (Falcon Works) Stoke on Trent. Apr 2012

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baj88

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Weatherby moved to the Falcon works from a smaller works in Tunstall in 1892. The factory was in the Weatherby family until closure in 2000. The works made everything from fancy goods to domestic ware, but their main lines were in Hotel and crested ware.

One of the last remaining family-owned pottery firms is to close after more than a century.
J H Weatherby and Sons in Hanley is currently being run down and is will soon cease trading after 109 years.
Its chairman, Christopher Weatherby, the great-great grandson of company founder John Henry Weatherby, today blamed cut-throat competition in the hotelware business for the firm's decline.
At its height the company employed 200, but the figure was down to 50 at the turn of the year and now stands at 10.
Mr Weatherby said: ‘‘We have decided to cease trading and are in the process of finishing off stock and things like that.
‘‘Basically we've decided to close down before someone else forced us to – while we are solvent rather than insolvent.
‘‘It's really upsetting. One of the main reasons is for the employees who work here.
‘‘We have had two or three generations of people working here and one of the things I've found warming is their reaction to this.
‘‘They have been very sympathetic and understanding. Everyone who works here has been very happy here.''
The company was founded in Tunstall in 1891 and moved to Hanley the following year.
It first made domestic ware such as basins and ewers, later moving into tableware and giftware.
The firm also entered the market for hotelware – leading ultimately to its downfall.
Mr Weatherby pointed to tough competition from home and abroad for the company's current problems.
These included pressure on prices owing to ‘‘block production'' and the concentration of the business in relatively few hands.
The 59-year-old added: ‘‘The hotel part of it was more fragmented. That has been changing and it's relying on more standard patterns.''
Mr Weatherby admitted the firm had even considered importing cheaper products from abroad, but was deterred because of the high volumes needed to make the operation profitable.
This route was controversially followed by another failed family firm, James Sadler and Sons.
Although the Burslem-based family firm went under earlier this year with the loss of 140 jobs, James Sadler Imports Limited continues to trade.
Mr Weatherby also partly blamed a planning issue dating back to the early 1970s, which ‘‘blighted'' the family firm and restricted investment in it.

After finishing work early one afternoon and nothing else to do, into Weatherbys I went, then returning on the Saturday with a friend.

On with the pics

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The full set is: http://s1087.photobucket.com/albums/j470/baj88/Facebook/Weatherbys/

Thanks for looking
 
This is one of the places Stoke Council should hang their heads in shame over even before the bottle kiln collapsed.
 
Its so sad to see this happen to the Pottery industry I watched it happen to the Glass industry in Stourbridge the stuff getting trashed was incredible,great report & photos thanks for sharing.
 
baj88 Welcome and thank you ;)
Now that I like allot .
A great balance of its history and pictures
and that kiln teetering on the brink Is tragic

Thanks for sharing

SK :)
 
WWWWWhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaattttttt?!?!?!?!?

Thats F*$king Criminal!!! The Kiln was amazing to walk into. Lost forever. I hope that was natural decay and not mindless idiots.

It collapsed of it's own accord a few months ago, although I don't know how you can 'hope' it was natural decay - it should never have collapsed in the first place if the Council and preservation trusts gave two shits about Stoke's heritage:icon_evil

When I was in Stoke for a day and a half last year I was totally shocked by the state of the city, I knew it was bad but I'd never realised just how bad it was:neutral:
 
It collapsed of it's own accord a few months ago, although I don't know how you can 'hope' it was natural decay

i always found it amazing that it stood proud right next door to a housing estate, with the easiest access for bored kids yet in it's entire derelict history not much damage had been done to the contents (bar a fire) by the locals.

Kids, teens etc could have come in and played coconuts with the amount of pottery in there but it's still like stepping back to the day they left it apart from the rotting floors.

I would have felt that if it was a human act of vandalism that it would be such a shame after all these years of being fairly untouched (for a UK derelict site in such a deprived area) to be ruined by taking the heart of the site away.
 

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