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 make here is The Glass Lampshade.

Founders Victoria Rothschild and Mark Bickers explain why glass making is a team sport, celebrate the fire in glory holes, and consider the perfect size for their business.

Also on the show, I have a go at making my own water glass and am reminded that, no, I cannot do two things at the same time.

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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 make here is The Somerset Cider.

Martin Thatcher, 4th generation cider maker, and his daughter Eleanor, 5th generation cider maker, give us a tour of their apple library, explain the unique challenges of brewing cider, and celebrate the joys of remaining a family-owned business.

We also visit the world’s most-beautiful orchard, learn the importance of regenerative farming, and I get the tables turned on me and must explain myself.

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The Factory Next Door is supported by AVEVA, a leader in industrial intelligence.

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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 Northampton to visit Britain’s oldest shoemaker.

Number 32 on our list of the greatest products we make here is The Country Brogue.

Martin Mason, Managing Director at Tricker’s, chats to us about pushing forward a brand that’s 196 years old, competing with warehouses for staff, and the joy to be found in vocational work.

We also contemplate size 18 shoes, wonder what a gimping machine is, and marvel at glazed brick tiles.

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The Factory Next Door is supported by AVEVA, a leader in industrial intelligence. 

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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 Education, Dr Simon Sadinsky.

During our walk we consider the value of preserving heritage crafts, the importance of looking beyond our areas of specialist knowledge, and question whether our education system is too focused on learned expertise rather than practical experience.

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The Factory Next Door is supported by AVEVA, a leader in industrial intelligence. 

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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 Ardnamurchan Distillery, tells us why he’s not worried about US tariffs, explains why he does worry about dust, and reveals the reason they put the distillery in such a remote location.  

We also see a giant underground bunker, consider whisky Jenga, and learn how the whisky is bringing families back to the area.

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The Factory Next Door is supported by AVEVA, a leader in industrial intelligence.  

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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 omitted from the marketing rebrand – the city’s skilled steel workers.

On this week’s The Factory Next Door, we’re visiting the workshop of Ernest Wright, where they’ve been hand-making beautiful scissors and shears since 1902.

Number 30 on our list of the greatest products we make in Britain are The Kitchen Scissors.

Owner Paul Jacobs explains why he bought the company before he’d even visited it, discusses how to ensure younger workers want to join the team, and looks to start an argument with a colleague.

Also on the show, we gate-crash birthday celebrations, give praise to a very specific chunk of metal on a saddle grinder, and team member Jonathan reveals the sign that stood in his way and commanded him to become a scissor-making.

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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 the UK, and while Savile Row may be synonymous with the craft, most tailors are working their magic in our satellite cities and market towns.

On this week’s The Factory Next Door, we head to Macclesfield to meet Brita. She’s a celebrated tailor in her own right, as well as being the driving force behind The Tailoring Academy – a school teaching our next generation of tailors.

Number 29 on our list of the greatest products we make in Britain is The Three-Piece Suit.

As we explore the Academy, Brita explains why having an engineers' mind helps to be a good tailor, the zen-like state you must journey into when spending hours hand-sewing, and we celebrate operatic tenor Luciano Pavarotti.

We also catch up with a former student to learn how the craft has changed his life, and discover why tailors, when they first meet, never look each other in the eye.

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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 suggesting some of those chemicals may be bad for our health, iron pans are returning to our stoves. The UK market is currently estimated to be growing at almost 10% year-on-year.

On this week’s The Factory Next Door, we head to Shropshire to meet the team crafting the iron pans that celebrity chefs and Michelin star restaurateurs seek out.

Number 28 on our list of the greatest products we make in Britain is The Prospector Pan by Netherton Foundry.

Founder Neil Currie shows us the beauty of spinning iron, explains his love of industrial design, and reveals why he once called home to ask his family to throw out all their cooking pans.

Also on the show, we celebrate the versatility of flaxseed oil, recognise the power of local provenience, and hear about exporting woks to China.

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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 The Factory Next Door we head to East London to visit one of our last remaining umbrella makers.

Number 27 on our list of the greatest things we make in Britain is The Doorman’s Umbrella by Ince Umbrellas.

Managing Director Richard Ince chats about the pressures of running a 215-year-old family business, the need to move away from plastic components, and reflects on what he believes are his weaknesses as a boss.

Richard also tells us about making umbrellas for Coldplay, why he entered the business as a 17-year-old, and questions the industry stats as his company doesn’t tell anyone how many umbrellas they make!

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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 increasingly significant player.

On this week’s The Factory Next Door we head to Kent to meet the team making some of our most internationally celebrated wines.

Number 26 on our list of the greatest things we make in Britain is The Sparkling Wine by Gusbourne.

Chief Vineyard Manager Jon Pollard explains why the number of hectares under vine in England and Wales has quadrupled in the past 25 years, talks about managing the changing climate, as well as getting back to traditional farming methods and why sheep are welcome visitors to the estate.

Also on the show, Gusbourne’s head winemaker Mary Bridges chats about the ‘salt’ and ‘pepper’ of winemaking, the joy of harvesting, and reveals she occasionally wants someone else to pick the wine when out with friends.

Please consider buying me a coffee to keep this show on the road

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