Chessell, a pottery no more

Chessell Pottery is to rebrand after closing the pottery side of the business.

Owners, Mark and Anna Giddens, who have run the venue for the last five years, have taken the decision to concentrate on the café side of the enterprise. Mark, who was formerly in building construction, said: “We have developed and moved on the café, which is now very popular with the locals, cyclists and walkers.

“It’s been a difficult last few years, with the Covid pandemic and spiralling costs. We have an incoming VAT bill and must make decisions regarding the business. At the moment, we are installing solar panels which will cost us £20,000, but it will also save us money in the future. We expect our electricity bills to quadruple from £14,000 a year when our fixed-rate tariff runs out shortly.

“It hasn’t really been a pottery since around 2002. We had a local lady make the pottery which children could paint, but it’s just unviable.

“So, we are now looking at rebranding our name. Our locals just call us ‘Chessell’ but we may rename it ‘Chessell Café’; we’re still deciding about that.

“We’re open seven days a week and employ 35 full- and part-time staff. We’re determined to give it our best shot but at the moment, right here and now, we’re struggling to make a profit.”