Rob Morley has been made redundant eight times since he was a teenager, working in different ceramics factories across Staffordshire that have all shut or downsized, one by one.

From WH Grindley, where he started when he was 16, the list includes Washington Pottery, Hanley Bank, Imperial, and Eastwood among others, but the most recent is Royal Stafford.

“They’re all going, bit by bit. There’s going to be none left in Stoke-on-Trent, and we’re supposed to be the Potteries,” the 59-year-old said.

Morley and his wife, Doreen, lost their jobs at Royal Stafford two weeks ago after the 180-year-old pottery business went into liquidation, resulting in the loss of more than 70 jobs, with the closure blamed on high energy costs and a reduction in orders.

After more than 15 years at the company, he said he found out it had closed down when colleagues called to tell him they found the factory’s locks had been changed when they arrived for their morning shift.

“We were totally gutted. We knew orders had been slow, but they come and go. This came totally out of the blue,” said Morley, who worked as a forklift driver and slipman, as well as being the GMB union rep.

“Then we found out we weren’t even getting paid our wages from the week before; we have to put claims in. People were crying – a lot of them live week to week; they might only have £10 left before their next pay.”

The collapse of Royal Stafford, the latest in a long line of ceramics companies in Staffordshire to either close down or reduce capacity in recent years, has prompted calls for action to protect the industry.

David Williams, the Labour MP for Stoke-on-Trent North, said: “It’s the pots that really made the city what it is; it’s in our DNA as a people, and the idea that we can lose the industry if we don’t put the measures in place to support it, is not OK.”

Last week, the prime minister said the issue was not just one of jobs, but a “question of identity and a sense of place”, and that he would work with energy companies to try to improve the situation.

In the countryside of the village of Barlaston, a few miles south of Stoke-on-Trent, a steady stream of tourists file through the doors of the World of Wedgwood, a homage to the fine-china manufacturer founded by the potter and entrepreneur Josiah Wedgwood in 1759.

It is one of the biggest and most iconic brands in the area, and two decades ago, about 600 peopled worked in the factory. Now there are 75 producing about a third of the company’s output – 60% is made in Indonesia.

“Made in England is extremely important,” said Sjoerd Leeflang, Wedgwood’s vice-president. “But it’s tough to have UK production; costs are just very high. Since 2021, our energy prices have gone up 100% for gas and 30% for electricity … To absorb that level of cost increase is tough.

“It’s very important to keep the craftsmanship alive. I see it as our role to protect the heritage of Wedgwood, which is important for the local economy but also the UK as a whole.

“You can replace me, that’s easy; it’s much more difficult to replace a potter who has been trained.”

As well as rising costs, there is concern about who will become the future workers of these ceramics factories, with fewer young people developing the skills needed to take over the roles.

Jon Plant is a co-founder of Moorland Pottery, which he set up in 1987 after struggling to find work in the first downturn of pottery plants in Stoke-on-Trent. He said: “We need to think about what opportunities we’re giving young people who come through …

Perhaps their parents or uncles and aunties worked in [ceramics], and they’ve seen them all be made redundant. It’s seen as being on its way out.”

He said rising energy bills had squeezed their business, but thought the picture was much more complicated than businesses being pushed to closure by high costs; he said innovation was key, and they had found success by specialising in bespoke and personalised mugs.

“I would say there’s absolutely a future for the ceramics industry in Stoke. There’s some people doing incredible things, working and thriving here. But it can’t be as it has been. We can’t go back,” he said.

Rob Flello, the chief executive of the British Ceramic Confederation and a former Labour MP for Stoke-on-Trent South, said the ceramics industry was now much more widespread, and diverse, than the traditional potteries of Staffordshire.

“There is a bit of a perception problem that ceramics equals gift and tableware equals Stoke-on-Trent,” he said. A “perfect storm” of high energy costs, cheaper imports and the cost of living crisis was pushing factories to the brink, he added.

“We have seen over the last 30 years a decline in some pottery manufacturers. As we’ve seen in the glass industry and the steel industry, they are a fraction of what they were a decade ago or more,” he said. “But [ceramics] has a really strong potential future. We just need the government to stop hammering it and help it.”

As Stoke-on-Trent celebrates the 100th anniversary of its city status, which was granted because of its importance as the centre of the pottery industry, many will be looking at what the future holds for the factories once so integral to the lifeblood of the area.

“We’re proud to be the Potters, but it’s all going,” said Morley. “If it was the steel industry or the car industry, you’d hear more about it. But we’re no different. We’re still workers. And everyone needs a cup, a teapot, a plate to eat off at home.”