Moorcroft Pottery is Back in Business
Plus Stone pub named best in Britain, local glamping manufacturer appears on Channel 4 show, and football club launched to support bereaved dads…
This month, we are supported by Steel Door Company, luxury steel doors to transform your home 🚪 🏠 🔨
Good News 🎉
🏺 Moorcroft is all Fired Up. It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster ride for our local pottery firms this year, with Royal Stafford closing down and Wedgwood set to cease production due to low demand. Moorcroft announced its closure back in April, only for the founders’ grandson, Will to step in, and reignite the fires again at the original Sandbach Road site. Show them your support and visit the shop and museum (10.30am-4.30pm Wed-Sat), or browse and shop online.
🏕️ THE KNOT’S PEOPLE OF THE WEEK – THE LANDPOD TEAM 🏕️
This week, we’re celebrating the talents of local glamping pod manufacturing business Landpod, which landed in the Taskmaster Garden on Channel 4! The team designed and built the latest addition to the Taskmaster house, a structure affectionately dubbed The Hutch (see below). With a forest showroom in Barlaston and a factory up in Eccleshall, designing and building the Hutch Pod in the Taskmaster garden was described as “a dream come true for me as I’m a huge Taskmaster fan,” by founder Jake Watson.
🍺 Stone Pub Named Best in Britain. Described as “a shining example of community value and hospitality at its best”, Crown Wharf was named the Great British Pub of the Year and the Best Town Pub at the Great British Pub Awards. A passion project by Joules Brewery, the pub received kudos for being crafted from recycled and reclaimed materials reflecting the company’s heritage, and its great community spirit. Another Staffs-based pub, The Manor House of Whittington in Kinver, was awarded Marston’s Pub of the Year.
🎨 B.ARTS Commissioning Local Artists. B.ARTS is seeking an artist/s to create five unique objects/artworks that will form a discovery trail around its building during its Makers Market on 16/11. A set artist/s commission fee will cover design & making of the five artworks, one public workshop, materials and installation. The trail should encourage exploration of the building, be accessible, family-friendly, and visually engaging. To apply send either a short expression of interest (max one side A4) or a short video (2-3 minutes) plus five images of previous work and a budget breakdown. For the full brief, go here. The deadline is 05/10.
⚽️ Forget-Me-Knot FC Launches. A new football club has launched in partnership with Port Vale Foundation to support bereaved dads, offering a unique mix of changing room chat and on-pitch run-around. Forget-Me-Knot FC brings together men who have lost a child to share their stories, swap advice, and find comfort in the company of men who truly understand. To join the group or make an enquiry, email Brett Pointon at the Port Vale Foundation or the Bereavement Midwifery team at Royal Stoke. You can also read our full story on this ace initiative here.
Desire Cocktail Bar Debuts Members Club. A Stoke-on-Trent cocktail bar which is ‘aiming to change drinking culture’ in the city has launched a members’ club. Desire Cocktail Bar has unveiled the Desire Collective, giving loyal customers access to a secret monthly cocktail menu, theatre ticket raffles, and other rewards. The bar is a popular pre- and post-theatre destination, known for dragonfruit margaritas and mangosteen mules. It has also introduced creative events including Financial Fridays – where drink prices rise and fall with demand like the stock market – and food pairings, networking sessions, and wine tastings.
🏥 Waiting Lists Fall at Royal Stoke. More than 55,000 extra appointments delivered by University Hospitals North Midlands Trust (UHNM) in one year are reducing waiting times and waiting lists. The delivery of the extra appointments by UHNM follows the recent news that waiting lists for some of the longest waits across Royal Stoke and County Hospital in Stafford have been cut by 54 per cent, with almost 3,000 people receiving the care they needed sooner.
🥨 Good Vibes Only: A word from Helen, writer at The Knot
It’s been a good week for the pottery manufacturers that make us so proud to be from this fine city. Here at The Knot, we’re thrilled to hear that the kilns are back on at Moorcroft as it gears up to produce its trademark pieces in the same location as it all began. Earlier in the month, local MPs, including David Williams and Allison Gardner, were invited into the Burslem factory to see workers in action. Of the 57 staff members who were made redundant when Moorcroft went bust, 35 of them have since been reinstated.
And whatever your views are on Trump and Melania, the fact that Longton’s Susan Rose China was selected to create the gifts from the PM to the US President, taking a piece of Longton to the White House, really helps put Stoke on the map.
Over at Spode, meanwhile, artists and art lovers have continued to flock to the British Ceramics Biennial, the largest ceramics showcase in the UK. If you haven’t been yet, there are still loads of great events to attend, from artist talks to feminist film nights. On display, you’ll find pieces by the winners: we love (Not) Guilty Pleasures by BC Jo Taylor, whose pieces take inspiration from the frivolity, ornament and artisan skill of the Rococo period, and Fresh Talent Prize winner Bahareh Khomeiry, whose work pays tribute to the act of Iranian women cutting their hair in protest as part of the ‘Women, Life, Freedom’ movement that arose across the country in 2022.
The show is on until 19/10 so there’s plenty of time to check out the schedule to see which events appeal to you. Unfortunately, Johnny Vegas’s talk on 18/10 sold out a while ago, but there are plenty of other reasons to go!
Really Good News 🎉 Your favourite news from the last week
⚽️ Forget Me Knot FC Launches: A new footy club for bereaved dads…
🏠 Flats Get Snapped Up At Goods Yard: There’s still some left if you fancy?
🧱 The Shape of Stoke: Join a talk on Stoke’s architecture on 18/10
The Knot Interviews: Helen spoke to Cheryl Taylor, director of the Regent Theatre, about their upcoming theatre season (yes, we know it was shot horizontally instead of vertically, but it was my first interview reel! I’ll do better next time, promise!)
Weekly Weather (Stoke-on-Trent):
Mon ⛅️ 15° (6°) Tue ⛅️ 17° (8°) Wed ⛅️ 17° (8°) Thu ⛅️ 15° (6°) Fri ⛅️ 14° (8°)
Sat 🌧️ 15° (10°) Sun 🌧️ 14° (6°).
Sunrise 29/09 ☀️07:05 Sunset 29/09 🌅 18:51