Royal Worcester collapses after 257 years making China

[Coventina]

Source: The Telegraph

The company, which supplied china to the Queen and Houses of Parliament, has failed to find a rescue buyer after accountants KPMG were brought in a month ago.

Royal Worcester, which was founded in 1751 and received the Royal Warrant in 1789, employs 388 people across the UK at their offices in Stoke-on-Trent and Lymdale, both Staffs, and Worcester.

But the ceramics firm has been forced into administration as a result of the current economic downturn.

It remained a popular choice for high end customers - it currently supplies the Dorchester, Claridges and the Savoy - but its business has been severely hampered in recent years by cheaper imports and changing tastes.



Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/3392746/Royal-Worcester-collapses-after-257-years-making-China.html

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I'm strongly anti-elitist and proletarian, but somehow this story makes me sad anyway...

[LonelyLRLiberal]

1. Royal Worcester is an old traditional maker of fine china. Very sad.

Maybe someone will rescue it still.

[TomInTib]

2. That is quite sad

An old company.

But they had out-sourced their production (from what I understand).

Oh, well...

[BrklynLiberal]

3. That is VERY sad...

[Davis_X_Machina]

4. Waterford crystal...

...in Ireland -- same story.

[aquart]

5. Waterford?

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

[Ken Burch]

6. What about Royal Doulton? If they go under, Hyacinth will be crushed!

[bitchkitty]

7. Oh no! You mean elitist snobs have

to buy their ridiculously inflated china from CHINA????

This is not sad. YOUR taxes will go to fix the mess, to make up for our country being plundered for the past 8 years, by assholes who eat their food from Royal Worcester plates.

Let them eat hot dogs. I couldn't care less about their freaking china.

[Doremus]

11. WTH are you talking about??

The company is in England.



BTW, there is a sad side to the story. You might try having some compassion for the people who used to work there.

[bitchkitty]

15. I do have compassion for the people who worked there -

but not for the clientele they catered to. I'm sorry, there are so many worse things that are going to happen than this. There are countless businesses that will go down, and I care a lot less about places like Tiffany's and Royal Worcester than I do about the social services that will shut down. I'm praying Obama can address it but I think that Capitalism is in its death throes, and the end won't be pretty.

Maybe it's just me being negative but I don't think I will change my view. I am not in the best frame of mind today. I've been evicted and have to move by Thursday, so I'm feeling a bit sorry for myself, and not for the Queen's china merchants.

[Javaman]

12. Wow, just wow. nt

[ellie]

8. This is very sad.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

9. Calling my broker and putting it all in Chinet.

[libnnc]

10. Well, that will result in one thing...

a helluva buying opportunity for Bob Page at Replacements Ltd.

Glad I'm not there anymore to unload and inventory THAT ginormous shipment.

[No Elephants]

13. I wonder how much executives made compared to line workers 250 years ago and what that multiple

was last year.

[curse of greyface]

14. Hopefully someone will pick this up and continue the tradition. nt