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 business.

Number 37 on our list of the greatest items we make here is The Oak-Framed Home.

Merry Albright is creative director of Border Oak, and daughter of the founder, John David Greene. She shows us around the firm’s workshops in Leominster as we celebrate the skills her dad had to relearn and then teach others.

Also on the show, we consider why we stopped making homes from trees, invite MPs to look through the company’s business accounts, question why the planning system became so combative, and fall in love with a boxed heart.

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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 success selling to US sneakerheads.

Number 36 on our list of the greatest items we make here is The Resoleable Sneaker.

On this week’s episode of The Factory Next Door, Dom Goral shows us how they’ve designed leather trainers with soles that can be replaced.

We chat about relocating the factory from Poland to a former school in Yorkshire, how influencers have helped build the brand in America, and why it’s good to question every part of the process.

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

Sign up to their bi-weekly newsletter about manufacturing here:

www.aveva.com/factory

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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 70 years old, but its impact and influence remains significant. Today it’s even helping revive the British wood industry decades after being ravaged by Dutch Elm Disease.

On this week’s The Factory Next Door, Ercol’s Chairman and Creative Director, Henry Tadros, shows us around their purpose-built modern factory close to High Wycombe, the historic heartland of UK furniture-making.

We question what makes a design timeless, watch the beauty and drama of wood bending, and learn why some outsourcing has been an important part of the company’s survival.

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And if you want to vote for the show at the British Podcast Awards, you can at this website:

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

Sign up to their bi-weekly newsletter about manufacturing here:

www.aveva.com/factory

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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.

Say hello on Instagram @thefactorynextdoor

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

Sign up to their bi-weekly newsletter about manufacturing here:

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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.

Say hello on Instagram @thefactorynextdoor

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

Sign up to their bi-weekly newsletter about manufacturing here:

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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.

Say hello on Instagram @thefactorynextdoor

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

Sign up to their bi-weekly newsletter about manufacturing here:

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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.

Say hello on Instagram @thefactorynextdoor

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

Sign up to their bi-weekly newsletter about manufacturing here:

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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.

Say hello on Instagram @thefactorynextdoor

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

Sign up to their bi-weekly newsletter about manufacturing here:

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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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