Podcasts · Business · Arts

The Factory Next Door

Steve Duke

63 episodes

What’s on your list of the greatest products made in Britain?

More about the show

Join economics journalist Steve Duke as he criss-crosses the island to meet the people still making things in our factories and workshops. Hear the stories behind some of our most iconic products, told by the people crafting them.

“A gem of a series” – Podcast Rex

“Thoughtful and warm” – The Guardian

***** “A wonderful, life-affirming podcast”

***** “Important listening with a light touch”

2026 – Gold - British Podcast Awards

2026 – Gold - The Signal Awards

2025 – Silver - British Podcast Awards

2024 – Winner - Independent Podcast Awards

Have a suggestion for what needs to go on our list? Whatsapp me on 07767 888 319.

Say hello on Instagram @thefactorynextdoor

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Episodes page 1 of 2

  1. 56. The Rivet Stool

    · 37 min

    It’s truly one of our greatest materials. We make shoes from it; clothes, books, bags and furniture. Leather is extraordinary. Over the millennia, we’ve become adept at using it. Today, in a West London workshop, a…

  2. 55. The Hand-Sewn Kilt

    · 36 min

    For 500 years highland dress has been synonymous with Scotland, but these days there are more kilt-makers in India than within its home country. On today’s The Factory Next Door we head to a workshop just off…

  3. 54. The Helter Skelter

    · 34 min

    You never quite know what you’re going to find when you visit one of our manufacturers. On today’s episode of The Factory Next Door, we head to Avonmouth to visit a bespoke storage maker – but what we discover is far…

  4. 53. The Ceremonial Uniform

    · 32 min

    When you need someone to escort the King’s crown to Parliament for the state opening, you call on his Majesty’s Gentleman at Arms – with their distinctive red and gold jackets. And when you need someone to make a new…

  5. 52. The Propelling Pencil

    · 40 min

    The epicentre of the global pen industry used to reside in Birmingham. Then the plastic biro arrived and everything changed. But in the city’s jewellery quarter, a team of skilled silversmiths are ensuring the history…

  6. 51. The Remembrance Wreath

    · 31 min

    Inspired by a poem about the horrors of war, the red poppy is worn by millions of people every year to commemorate those who have died in conflict. And every November, on Remembrance Sunday, poppy wreaths of varying…

  7. Most replayed moments. The greatest business strategy

    · 16 min

    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,…

  8. Most replayed moments. Why I bought a British factory

    · 16 min

    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…

  9. Most replayed moments. Stories from our makers that made me cry

    · 15 min

    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…

  10. 50. The Knitted Polo Shirt

    · 36 min

    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…

  11. 49. The Folding Bicycle

    · 39 min

    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…

  12. Bonus Ep. Northampton. How to grow our shoe industry

    · 56 min

    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…

  13. 48. The Wedding Tent

    · 31 min

    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…

  14. 47. The Surgical Clamp

    · 26 min

    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 &…

  15. 46. The Luxury Lingerie

    · 32 min

    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.…

  16. 45. The Mechanical Watch

    · 30 min

    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…

  17. 44. The Optical Glasses

    · 28 min

    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…

  18. 43. The Premium Preserve

    · 32 min

    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…

  19. 42. The Mountain Shirt

    · 40 min

    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…

  20. 41. The China Mug

    · 32 min

    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…

  21. 40. The Bed Linen

    · 28 min

    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…

  22. 39. The Musical Saw

    · 26 min

    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…

  23. 38. The Rocket Engine

    · 34 min

    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.…

  24. 37. The Oak-Framed Home

    · 33 min

    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…

  25. 36. The Resoleable Sneakers

    · 29 min

    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…

  26. 35. The Dining Chair

    · 32 min

    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…

  27. 34. The Glass Lampshade

    · 29 min

    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’…

  28. 33. The Somerset Cider

    · 30 min

    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…

  29. 32. The Country Brogues

    · 32 min

    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…

  30. Bonus Ep. Dumfries House. Inside the King's House of Makers

    · 29 min

    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…

  31. 31. The Single Malt

    · 31 min

    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…

  32. 30. The Kitchen Scissors

    · 28 min

    Sheffield is about to embark on a brand refresh which celebrates the city’s role in the history of cultural phenomena such as football, electronic music, and cask beer. But we’re heading there to champion something…

  33. 29. The Three-Piece Suit

    · 32 min

    Being a tailor is a profession. It has been since 1563 when laws were passed that stated you could only trade as a tailor if you had served your term learning the craft. Today, there are around 13,000 tailors across…

  34. 28. The Prospector Pan

    · 31 min

    Across Europe, we’ve been cooking with iron pans since the 1600s (the Chinese were using them 1,000 years before that), but they fell out of favour after the invention of ‘non-stick’ chemicals. Now, following studies…

  35. 27. The Doorman's Umbrella

    · 28 min

    Around 1.5 million umbrellas are reportedly made in the UK every year. We need them. The UK gets around 171 days of rain every year (though that’s across the entire country, thankfully not in one spot!) On this week’s…

  36. 26. The Sparkling Wine

    · 33 min

    Making sparkling wine is an old craft that’s found a new home. The French (and other European nations) may have been producing it for 300 years, but since the start of the 21st century, the UK has become an…

  37. 25. The Coachbuilt Car

    · 32 min

    Cars are made by robots – often articulated robots that resemble giant human arms… except, there’s a tiny percentage of cars that are still made using real human arms. On this week’s The Factory Next Door we head to…

  38. 24. The Selvedge Jeans

    · 32 min

    More than three billion pairs of denim jeans are made every year. But not all jeans are made the same. Just 10% are produced using selvedge denim - a denim that takes more time to weave and is significantly longer…

  39. 23. The Inflatable Lifeboat

    · 30 min

    Since 1824, if you’ve got into difficulties on the British coastline, volunteers from the RNLI will race to your aid. They’ll arrive in a distinctive bright orange boat. A boat built in Britain. Number 23 on our list…

  40. 22. The Space Satellite

    · 31 min

    In a leafy science park in Surrey, there’s a team of engineers making something that’s not intended for our world – it’s designed to live in space. Number 22 on our list of the greatest things we make in Britain is…

  41. 21. The Cotton Shirt

    · 28 min

    A thread runs across the shoulders of King Charles, Stormzy, and David Gandy, and leads to the city of Gloucester. There, in a beautiful 18th century house, you can find Emma Willis and her skilled team making shirts…

  42. Bonus Ep. Evan Davis

    · 29 min

    For this special episode of the show, we sit down for a chat with journalist and broadcaster Evan Davis. Before becoming presenter of Radio 4’s PM programme, Evan was the BBC’s Economics Editor. In 2011, he presented…

  43. 20. The Horse Saddle

    · 32 min

    The world’s biggest exporter of horse saddles and harnesses? China. Today it accounts for almost half the entire global market. But British-made saddles are still celebrated for their craftsmanship, and they are still…

  44. 19. The Teddy Bear

    · 30 min

    This year we’re on course to spend a billion-pounds on stuffed toys and dolls in the UK. The vast majority will arrive in shipping containers, but a small, select group of stuffed toys will be born on our island.…

  45. 18. The Linen Jacket

    · 31 min

    In East London, at a former Burberry factory, jackets and shirts are being manufactured with a unique twist – every element of them, from the buttons to the labels, the thread to the cloth, has been produced within the…

  46. 17. The Albert Slipper

    · 32 min

    There are 181 companies making footwear in the UK. In this week’s show we visit one of the oldest, Norfolk’s Bowhill & Elliott, to celebrate its Albert Slipper. These slippers, traditionally made from velvet and often…

  47. 16. The Morris Bell

    · 25 min

    As the summer sun finally arrives, it’s time to celebrate an item we commonly hear in our villages and towns during the warmer months – the morris bell. Morris dancers wear dozens of these bells strapped to their…

  48. 15. The Additive Watch

    · 32 min

    We celebrate a watch on today’s show – one made using 3D printing technologies (or additive manufacturing as the technique is referred to in the industry). Apiar are new-comers to the horology world, but their use of…

  49. 14. The Derby Boots

    · 30 min

    It’s time to add a piece of footwear to our list of great British-made products. This week we head to Northamptonshire, the traditional home of our shoe-making industry, to tour Joseph Cheaney & Sons’ factory. Our…

  50. 13. The Velvet Jacket

    · 31 min

    For number 13 on our list we head to 13 Savile Row, W1. There we meet Ruby, founder and creative director of Banshee, to learn how she makes her exquisite bespoke velvet jackets. As we tour Banshee’s workshop, we…

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