Planning permission has been granted for the demolition of two derelict former factory buildings on Garner Street in Etruria, Stoke-on-Trent. The Old Twyford Buildings, damaged in a major fire more than 10 years ago, will be knocked down by WS Storage Solutions Limited.
The site forms part of the Ceramic Valley Enterprise Zone along the A500, where authorities are working to invest in infrastructure and remediation of brownfield land for future redevelopment.
Major environmental risk
Jo Gideon, former MP for Stoke-on-Trent Central from 2019 to 2024, described the site as the "biggest environmental challenge" she faced during her time in office. Until 2022, the building was filled with industrial material in huge bales, packed into holes cut into the concrete.
The Environment Agency rated it as one of the top three environmental risks in the country at the time. The fire service used drones with temperature-checking equipment to regularly monitor the site, which could have potentially collapsed at any point.
"Nobody quite knew what was in these bales, so you can imagine if it caught fire the level of toxic gases and things that might've come out would've been horrendous," Gideon said. She highlighted the proximity of the site to the A500, the West Coast Mainline, and the River Trent.
Clearance costs and heritage
The building was cleared at a cost exceeding £10m, with Gideon telling then prime minister Boris Johnson that "Stoke-on-Trent is going to be the next Beirut" unless funding was agreed. She said she was "given effectively a blank cheque" and described securing the funding as "one of my proudest moments as an MP."
Despite its appearance as "a beautiful building in its true industrial heritage," Gideon said the structure was "completely unsafe" and could never have been restored. A large fire at the site occurred in 2012, taking days to fully extinguish.
According to the Twyford Bathrooms History blog, production at the Garner Street site finished in 1990, with all manufacturing and warehousing moved to the company's Alsager factory. Parts of the building continued in use until 2004.
Gideon expressed hope that the site could eventually be returned to active use as part of the enterprise zone once demolition is complete.
