ART deco pottery Lorna Bailey Artware wants to quit Burslem because not enough people shop in the town.

Director Lionel Bailey says the company, which is named after its sole designer and employs 20 people, wants to move from its Wedgwood Street base to another site in Stoke-on-Trent before Christmas.

He says the ceramics firm is relying on its collectors’ club to remain profitable and is considering relocating to Tunstall to increase local custom.

But Stoke-on-Trent North MP Joan Walley says housing and shopping in the Mother Town will be improved by a regeneration master-plan approved last year.

Mr Bailey said: “While we are in Burslem, there is no footfall. It is very quiet and we have been looking at Tunstall. We have been in Tunstall and it is well and truly better in terms of footfall.

“The site here is too big for us, anyway. We have a big visitors’ centre at the front and there is no demand for anything like that in Burslem.”

He added: “Since Royal Doulton moved out of Nile Street, I think Burslem has gone down, retail-wise.”

Mr Bailey has commissioned an estate agent to search for premises elsewhere in Stoke-on-Trent, despite the three-year lease on the current property not ending until next year.

He said there has not been enough investment in the town and shoppers are turning to Hanley and Tunstall.

A city council spokesman said the authority had invested £6.6 million in improving Burslem since 1997.

Hugh Edwards, chairman of the Burslem Regeneration Company (BRC) and pottery firm Moorcroft, disagreed that the number of shoppers had decreased in the town.

He said there had been a 27 per cent increase in visitors to Moorcroft’s Sandbach Road base in the past 10 months.

He believes the Burslem master-plan will improve the town’s housing and shopping outlook and make it more attractive to businesses.

Mr Edwards said: “I wouldn’t be hanging around, banging my head against a brick wall in Burslem, if things were not moving on.”

But Malcolm Barber, who has run Burslem Oatcakes, in Waterloo Road, for 17 years, said there had been a “significant” dip in custom at his store in the last two years.

Mr Barber was secretary of Burslem Chamber of Trade until August when it was suspended because of a lack of interest from traders.

He said: “I have to agree with what Lionel is saying.

“Shoppers have gone from Burslem because of the closure of Johnson Matthey and Royal Doulton. Now Lorna Bailey is planning to move out, more footfall will be lost from Burslem.”

But Ms Walley argued the regeneration plans for Burslem are starting to take shape with the opening of the £850,000 Live/Work development on Queen Street, which combines flats and shops.

She said: “You can’t have all the major employers leave and so many homes knocked down without losing footfall.

“We know all that and that is why people came together with the council and the regeneration company to get a master-plan about what needs to change in Burslem.

“We have a plan to make sure this does happen and we are determined to ensure it moves forward.”