Seventy pottery workers are being made redundant with the closure of a Stoke-on-Trent pottery.

Wade Ceramics, of Burslem, is to ‘‘mothball’’ its Hilltop plant, in Westport Street, after a collapse in sales of its whisky flagons.
The news comes as a survey published today shows confidence among employers in North Staffordshire has reached its lowest ebb since the late 1980s.

Geoff Bagnall, general secretary of pottery union Geoff Bagnall, said: ‘‘We have been told the Hilltop site is to be mothballed at Christmas, which means to all intents and purposes it will be closed.

‘‘The 70 redundancies announced by the management represent the entire workforce of the Hilltop site.’’
No-one at Wade’s nor parent group Beauford was available for comment. The company’s two other factories at Burslem are not affected.

Meanwhile, a quarterly survey unveiled today by the chambers of commerce in North Staffordshire and Stafford show one in four firms is planning to axe jobs.

Bryan Carnes, chief executive of North Staffs Chamber of Commerce, said it adds fresh weight to calls a cut in interest rates by the Bank of England.

The Bank’s decision-makers on interest rates, the monetary policy committee, was meeting today. Previous decisions to increase rates has pushed up the value of the pound - blamed for lost export orders and hundreds of job losses in North Staffordshire.

Mr Carnes said exchange rates are still the biggest worry for company directors - with increasing competition and interest rates also ranked highly.

‘‘All these are linked,’’ said Mr Carnes. ‘‘People are battening down the hatches. What we need is a significant cut in interest rates. If not, they we are heading for a period of stagnation and rising unemployment levels.’’

According to the quarterly survey among the chambers’ 1,050 members, 31 per cent expect to see a drop in turnover over the next 12 months. Only 24 per cent are expecting an improvement.

And 45 per cent say profits are set to suffer - with only 27 per cent expecting an improvement.

Mr Carnes said it is the first time since the late 1980s that pessimists have outweighed optimists on both profits and turnover.

One of the few encouraging findings of the survey is that companies are maintaining investment plans, said Mr Carnes. But the chambers’ survey has underlined the depressed picture nationally, where evidence of an economic slowdown is mounting.

PICTURED: The Hilltop plant, Burslem, which is to be ‘mothballed’ by Wade Ceramics.