Firstly, it is introducing a new luxury dinner ware range, the Heritage Collection. A full (palace-sized) set of this range is estimated to set you back around £1m. Plates cost around £10,000 and even a humble teapot is £5,000…

The second measure being taken by the company is to put its 200 factory workers onto a 4-day week. As well as falling demand due to the economic downturn, Royal Crown Derby has apparently also been hit by the demise of Waterford Wedgwood, who sold the pottery’s wares through its retail outlets.

Royal Crown Derby hopes that the 4-day week will only be a short term measure but says that it is acting early to try and avoid redundancies amongst its skilled, UK workforce.