Teapot factory deterioration 'heart-breaking'

Teapot factoryImage source, Simon Davies
Image caption,

Simon Davies plans to transform the teapot factory into an events venue

At a glance

  • Businessman Simon Davies hopes to restore the Price and Kensington Works factory and turn it into an events venue

  • The factory is a listed building and on the Heritage At Risk register - listed as at "immediate risk"

  • The factory closed in 2003 and Historic England said it had been subject to fires and was in a "very poor condition"

  • Published

A businessman behind plans to redevelop a derelict teapot factory in Stoke-on-Trent, has said watching it deteriorating has been "heart-breaking".

Simon Davies, from Kidsgrove, plans to turn the "historically significant" Price and Kensington Works building into an events venue.

The factory was last used in 2003 and is a grade II listed building, on the Heritage at Risk register.

Historic England listed it as at "immediate risk", in "very poor condition" and subject to fires, external.

Image source, Simon Davies
Image caption,

The teapot factory has been vandalised and left derelict for many years

Mr Davies said he was working with the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), artists, historians and charities to help develop the idea.

"We've got some amazing heritage buildings here that are completely unique and sadly they are just sat here crumbling," he said.

"It's a really significant site and sadly at the moment it's full of waste.

"The whole place has been fly-tipped, it's been vandalised.

"If we're not careful, we're going to lose this and future generations will not have these heritage buildings."

Mr Davies said the restoration would mean a lot for local people.

The current state of the building was "an embarrassment to the area", he added.

He hopes to "showcase" his visions for the building at an event later in the year.