Maling history

The 1960s - The end of an era

The 1960s saw increasing competition. Maling's contract to supply crockery to the London & North Eastern Railway Company was lost to a Japanese company who were able to undercut the price by 75 per cent. The long association with the Ringtons tea company ended in 1962.

Attempts were still being made to introduce new designs such as 'Two Tone' (a two colour design which was aerographed onto the pot - cheap to produce, but not unattractive). Samples for the proposed Maling 1964 range exist, and show that the pottery was still very much in conservative mode - re-working old designs rather than going to the expense of starting from scratch.

Unfortunately, it was not to be. The factory was forced to close in 1963. Record books and copper engraving plates dating back as far as Victorian times were sold off as scrap for whatever money they could fetch. The workers, many of whom had followed their parents and grandparents into the pottery, were saddened by the loss of their second family and still talk with great affection of those days.

Today, the Maling Collectors' Society exists to recover and preserve as much of that history as is possible - while there is still time. If you can help us, please do!