The Factory Next Door

We’ve hit number 50 on our list of the greatest things we make here, so I thought it would be nice to share some of my favourite moments, as well as your most replayed clips.   Since we started The Factory Next Door, we’ve spent hours and hours hanging out with business owners, chatting to them on factory floors and in their offices.   They come from different walks of life, creating a w...

We’ve hit number 50 on our list of the greatest things we make here, so I thought it would be nice to share some of my favourite moments, as well as your most replayed clips.   Our manufacturers are undoubtedly facing strong headwinds. Many business owners tell me it’s tougher now than it’s been for decades.   Despite this, on our travels around the country, we’ve met a few extraordinary...

We’ve hit number 50 on our list of the greatest things we make here, so I thought it would be nice to look back at some of my favourite moments from the show, as well as your most replayed clips.   Over the coming weeks, I’ll share a few compilations.   We’ll start with moments that hit me hard.   The Factory Next Door might be about manufacturing, but it’s also a love letter to peo...

When you’ve been learning your craft for almost two and a half centuries, you can confidently call yourself ‘the world’s finest’. John Smedley have been making their knitwear in Derbyshire since 1784. Number 50 on our list of the greatest things we make here is The Knitted Polo Shirt. On this week’s The Factory Next Door we head to Matlock to visit John Smedley’s historic Lea Mills. Managing Direc...

Spend a day in any major city from Seoul to San Francisco and you’ll spot them weaving through the traffic – a bicycle with distinctive small wheels and arched top tube. Brompton’s folding bike is an example of a great British design that’s loved around the world. More than 1.2m have now been sold. Number 49 on our list of the greatest things we make here is The Folding Bicycle. On this week’s The...

Over the past 20 years, the amount we spend on shoes in the UK has tripled. It now stands at £14bn. During the same period, our domestic footwear industry has dramatically shrunk. The vast majority of shoes we buy are now made overseas. One town remains synonymous with shoemaking. Northampton. And it’s here that you can still find craftspeople making some of the finest shoes in the world. Brands l...

Pitching a 24-metre-long tent is one thing. Manufacturing one requires a whole different set of skills, including cloth cutting, sewing, woodwork and a good understanding of mathematics. On this week’s The Factory Next Door we head to North Yorkshire to meet a team striving to keep alive the ancient art of tent making. Number 48 on our list of the greatest things we make here is The Wedding Tent b...

When the world’s best surgeons spread a rib cage or clamp a blood vessel, they rely on instruments hammered and filed by skilled hands in a Sheffield workshop.   On this week’s The Factory Next Door we head to Platts & Nisbett, manufacturers of surgical instruments for almost half-a-century.   Number 47 on our list of the greatest things we make here is The Surgical Clamp. &nbsp...

Smalls are a big market. Annual underwear sales in the UK top £400m. Much of it used to be made domestically (with a thriving cluster in south Wales), but, in the past 15 years, that industry has dramatically shrunk. Today, just a few artisan lingerie companies survive. On this week’s The Factory Next Door, we head to New Tredegar in South Wales to meet Naomi Edmondson, the founder of lingerie com...

What does it take to make a product so special customers will wait years to get their hands on one?   In the world of horology, Rebecca and Craig Struthers have built themselves an enviable reputation using traditional tools and methods to craft extraordinary timepieces. Their watches are so popular the waiting time for one is currently seven years (they are working to bring that down!) &nbsp...

Every company has a lifespan. Some have two. Over the course of a century, glasses-maker Curry & Paxton went from pioneering new optical instruments, to becoming a key supplier to the NHS, to appearing in iconic movies. Then, in 1987, they vanished. On this week’s The Factory Next Door, we visit the workshop where they are breathing new life into this heritage British brand. Number 44 on our l...

The market for jams and preserves might seem… well, jam-packed, but get your recipe right and you’ll find space to grow. Number 43 on our list of the greatest products we make here is The Premium Preserve. On this week’s The Factory Next Door we visit Bristol to meet Nicola Elliott, founder of award-winning jam maker Single Variety Co. Nicola gives us a tour of her expanding factory as she explain...

There are somethings you can’t know about a company until you’ve bought it and had a riffle through the filing cabinets. In the case of clothing maker Buffalo Systems, it was numerous letters of appreciation from special forces, the military, and mountain rescue teams.   Number 42 on our list of the greatest products we make here is The Mountain Shirt by Buffalo. Broadcaster and adventurer Be...

There’s plenty of reasons to buy a British manufacturer right now. On this week’s episode, artist Susan Rose reveals why she’s just done that – acquiring a pottery in Stoke-on-Trent.   We take a tour to learn about getting the thickness of mugs just right, the art of the kiln-stack, and why the random-shake of a cup in water is not always what it seems.   We also hear about overcoming dy...

When the ultra-wealthy want a new set of bespoke bedding for their mansion or superyacht, they email a mill that sits just outside Blackburn, Lancashire.   Peter Reed – whose customers include the Royal Household – has been producing handcrafted bedding for more than 160 years.   Number 40 on our list of the greatest products we make here is The Bed Linen.   Managing Director Sean C...

The global market for saw blades might be worth $16bn a year, but there’s only one saw factory left in the UK.   In today’s show we visit Sheffield’s Thomas Flinn & Co to learn how they’ve been cutting teeth for the past 100 years.   Number 39 on our list of the greatest products we make here is The Musical Saw.   Director Katie Ellis’ family have owned the company for generatio...

Earlier this year, Blue Ghost became the first commercial lunar lander to touch down on the moon.   Crucial to that mission’s success was its engine – a rocket designed and built in the Buckinghamshire countryside.   Number 38 on our list of the greatest items we make in Britain is The Rocket Engine.   At a former military base, Dr Ian Coxhill, chief engineer at Nammo UK, shows us a...

We almost lost the art of building homes from oak in Britain. Thankfully, someone in Herefordshire wasn’t going to let that happen.   In today’s show we celebrate a dad who revived the medieval craft and built a business.   Number 37 on our list of the greatest items we make here is The Oak-Framed Home.   Merry Albright is creative director of Border Oak, and daughter of the founder...

The American sneaker market is worth $25bn. It is the biggest in the world – and growing. But it’s a crowded market. You need a stellar USP to stand out.   Sheffield-based trainer-maker Goral has one – and it’s finding success selling to US sneakerheads.   Number 36 on our list of the greatest items we make here is The Resoleable Sneaker.   On this week’s episode of The Factory Next...

Design a timeless classic and the ripples from that one idea can be felt across industries for decades. Take Ercol’s Windsor Dining Chair, number 35 on our list of the greatest items we make here. It may be more than 70 years old, but its impact and influence remains significant. Today it’s even helping revive the British wood industry decades after being ravaged by Dutch Elm Disease. On this week...

You must be delicate shaping it. You must be aggressive smoothing it. Glass might be full of contradictions, but it’s consistent in its beauty.   On this week’s The Factory Next Door, we head to Rothschild & Bickers’ glassblowing studio in Hertford to learn what it takes to turn molten silica into art for the walls and the ceiling.   Number 34 on our list of the greatest products we...

When you’re in the business of making cider, you need to be able to predict the future. Growing a single apple tree for cider-making takes years. Plant an orchard, and you’re betting on customers’ taste buds decades ahead of time. On this week’s The Factory Next Door we head to the village of Sandford by the Mendip Hills to visit Thatchers Cider. Number 33 on our list of the greatest products we m...

These are tough times for Britain’s celebrated shoemakers – sales to Europe have been squeezed since 2019, tax-free shopping for overseas tourists has been scrapped, and recent geopolitical events have dented consumer confidence.   To survive, it helps if your brand has a long history and a cult following. Thankfully for Tricker’s they have both.   On this week’s The Factory Next Door, we head to...

Thirty miles south of Glasgow, in the grounds of a country house, thousands of students visit every year to learn heritage skills such as stone masonry and stained glass making.   Dumfries House is home to The King’s Foundation, an educational charity set up by King Charles III.   For this special episode of The Factory Next Door, we take a tour of Dumfries House with the Foundation’s Head of Educ...

The world loves Scotch whisky. Forty-four bottles are exported every single second – that’s 1.4bn a year.   On this week’s The Factory Next Door, we head to the remote Ardnamurchan peninsula in the Scottish Highlands to learn what it takes to build a distillery.   Number 31 on our list of the greatest products we make in Britain is The Single Malt.   Alex Bruce, Managing Director of the Ardnamurch...