Stoke on Trent in Demolition Heartbreak

If only our council could see what we see...
Only then could our heavy TAX burden be used for the common good.
The future is bright for the Bulldozer,
The factories are silent and the bottle oven is cold,
R.I.P. The Potteries.

[@jacobmassey3897]

I dont intend on dying here. The fact every photo was taken on a miserable day just sums up Stoke perfectly. Very little respect for our heritage because nearly all the bottle kilns are gone and there's little respect for the city as it is currently.

[@Nitebreed]

Ur a ray of sunshine aren't ya!!

[@jacobmassey3897]

@@Nitebreed you try living here and see how jolly it makes you lol.

[@royfearn4345]

Well, it's had all the character knocked out of it, just like thousands of other towns with tight-knit neighbourhoods.

[@johnrobertson8263]

Asian takeaways, charity shops, now fill our lost shops

[@jason2709]

Believe in your city people. Only we can make it better.

[@robertbarlow6359]

I enjoyed photographing some of this around 2009. Areas like Burslem and Longton, with their delamination and semi demolished potteries and remaining bottle kilns. There's a sort of visual fascination to such places for the urban landscape artist. Once they're gone and replaced by supermarkets and apartments that's it. In a sense it's a privelage to get to photograph it before it's gone, the remains of a bygone industrial era.. Steetley Magnesite was another such site, with its semi demolished ruins. Was a surreal place.

[@john111257]

i loved my saturdays in hanley...hate it now..council round here are awful...only a couple of miles away in newcastle...floral gardens...seems like another world...in the cultural quarter...a few steps away from the regent a dirty great hole..left by demolition...GREAT..and youre payin a fortune to go to the show...council say...CITY CENTRE...NO RAILWAY...LOUSY BUS STATION...wheres the money go...people in stoke are great...but are messed up by the failings...in the 70s...it was good..no more

[@dazzp2]

Can't say the progress is better than those days

[@justindrake4600]

I was a student at Burslem Art school in the 60's. Burslem was already a half crumbing ruin then. No-one is to blame. The mass production of pottery in other parts of the world, and the world-wide decline of coal, spelt doom for Stoke on Trent - which only had pottery & coal. Sad ... but u can only try to mitigate the march of history - not stop it..

[@Nitebreed]

There are not many places that can say they're known world wide for what they do/make and Im proud to be a Stokie!! And as the poem goes..- "Stoke on trent- born and bred, tought as fk and great in bed"!!

[@justindrake4600]

Lern to spel ...

[@Wintermute666]

Levelling up? Or just levelling... Seems to be money for carparks to be built. Not sure why we'd need them. Stokies are sound people though. I recall coming down Etruria Vale by train past the Steelworks and Pit in 1980. Said I'd stay 2 years max. Still here. The people make this place. For now, anyway

[@gcfcos]

U can thank people like Maggie t for scenes like this. Take away a city's industry and u take away the city. So once all the labour goes abroad as it's cheaper what happens to the thousands of people that worked in these places, some for generations of the same family. I think this country let down the millions of people who came from there rural lifestyle to make a better life in the city's and ended up working and living in horrific conditions, now the poor sods abroad who are doing exactly the same thing!

[@rosechris48]

+gcfcos You are so right, Doulton in Indonesia??????????? What the? Doulton is Burslem, Burslem was Doulton now I would never buy Doulton. Our city has been run by idiots for years and now we are feeling the aftermath of them/

[@rosechris48]

A lot of what you are saying is right, I dont agree about the wicked witch though, do me a favour, please curb your language. No offence but kids could come on this site. Thanks

[@rosechris48]

Totally agree.

[@rosechris48]

Does that mean then that you have to use it, God help the kids if you are an example of today`s society. Its always said bad language is used when people are not capable of using the proper words, teacher? yeah whatever.

[@rosechris48]

LOl well that says it all, your fourth wife,,,,, ha ha ha . Whats wrong, couldnt the other three get away quick enough? they probably had enough of your dirty mouth too and your nasty attitude,,,, says it all like I say...... hehehehe. I am so glad you told me that, you made my day.............LMHO

[@patrickflanagan8008]

Truly tragic.

[@sharonkendall2210]

R.I.P POTTERIES..... Hey WE ARE STILL HERE JUST HAVING A FUCKED UP FACE LIFT

[@misfit2022]

Not a city, just an amalgamation of towns

[@Mr2watty]

I used to work at Doultons and left just before it closed. I moved to Newquay, came back for a visit and could not believe what a dump Burslem has become. So sad..

[@rosechris48]

Not only Burslem, you should see Hanley

[@chrisparkes2179]

@@rosechris48 No he shouldn't! Nobody should.

[@chrisparkes2179]

When I was growing up Burslem was _the_ place to go. It was more upmarket than Hanley. I worked there in 1986 and it was still a great little town. I returned to work there '91 to '99 and saw the decline. Visited it a few times recently and, my god, it is bleak.

[@john111257]

Bloody council ..our city is lousy...

[@RichardSmith-yb2sq]

This is where my Great grandparents are from and where they ended up (Trenton, N.J.) Isn't much better off!!

[@fendoryxxx]

to much demolition. not enough building who's running this council ? DAVE DYNOMITE AND BILLY THE BULLDOZER! awesome song,great vid.

[@Drpepper7916]

has much changed in the last 8 years?

[@amyforrester123]

Mr S. T. Range Nope

[@carloscasillero4422]

It's to spread out to be a city!!! Hanley is a joke of a city centre, no train station and on top of a hill! But the people are to blame as much as the council!

[@janatzubair6931]

Wow mashallah

[@1delius]

too heart breaking but so true. All I can say is ditto!!!!

[@Buslover-ot3ud]

Hanley Bus Station

[@stokiesteve71]

I suppose every city has its dumps and decay but stoke is really struggling now due to indecision and bankrupt pottery business

[@philipraiswell3570]

What a dump!

[@petergraves2401]

Yes all very well but now publish the buildings that Stoke city council have built in the last 30 years. Some are quite hideous, every city in England can be portrayed as a decaying heap if you photograph in selected redevelopment schemes.

[@timblackwood1531]

I think the point wasn't about developing a city..... The video was highlighting the disaster of Stoke Council and pottery owners greed. It would never of happened if ceramics had good investment and help from council.

[@chrisparkes2179]

@@timblackwood1531 By pottery owners, I assume you mean the London and foreign based investment companies who took over the potteries when the economic policies of the 1980s drive the original owners into bankruptcy. The original owners would never have done what they did.

[@bedsj001]

ALL WRONG