My mum is in her 80s. Like my grandad before her, she proudly worked in the potbanks around Burslem and Tunstall. Even now, whenever she sees cups, saucers or plates, she turns them over to check the backstamp. If it celebrates our home town, she beams. If a café or restaurant has chosen something else, she gives it a disapproving tut.
She also remembers our beautiful heritage buildings, taking me and my sisters to the panto at the Queen’s Theatre in Burslem and walking us around the busy stalls at Burslem Indoor Market.
She often talks about the thriving high streets and close-knit communities of those days.
When I knock on doors across Stoke-on-Trent North and Kidsgrove, I hear the same mixture of pride and frustration. People love where they live, but know things could be better. You want town centres that feel safe and welcoming, better playgrounds and activities for young people, historic buildings brought back to life and a pottery industry protected for the future.
Those conversations shape my priorities. Fourteen years of Conservative austerity took a toll on our communities, but my job is to look ahead and deliver practical improvements.
When I met workers facing redundancy at Royal Stafford and Moorcroft, I heard how deeply they valued their craft. Between them, they represented well over a thousand years of skills and experience. I promised to fight for our pottery industry and by working with my fellow Stoke-on-Trent MPs, I took that message to the heart of government. We returned with a £120 million package to support the sector now and into the future.
Residents also told me that our communities need investment. After making that case to Ministers, our area was selected as one of only 60 places nationally for £1.5 million in Pride in Place funding.
That money is helping to improve play parks in Ball Green, Brindley Ford, Fegg Hayes and Sandyford, with more projects to come. It is supporting our war memorials and allotments too, alongside dozens of other local projects. These may seem like small changes individually, but together they can make our neighbourhoods better places to live.
Our town centres must be part of that effort. For too long, they have been treated as a problem to put off rather than a priority to tackle. In Burslem, work is transforming Queen Street. In Tunstall, regeneration plans for Tower Square and the area around our market are expected to move on site within the next year. We will also use enforcement powers against landlords who neglect their properties.
Our heritage buildings matter, too. A couple of weeks ago, I visited the Market Place Café, overlooking the brilliant Lemmy statue, and got talking to Margaret.
“There is a real buzz around Burslem again, Dave,” she told me. That meant a lot.
I have been working closely with the Labour council and council leader Jane Ashworth on projects that can give these places a future. Major works are taking place at the Wedgwood Institute and scaffolding is up inside Burslem Indoor Market. In addition to this, we are working with the energetic Lemmy team to help bring the Queen’s Theatre back into use.
Pride is not just about looking back at what our towns once were, it is about protecting what makes them special and making them places where the next generation can build a future.
So, when I’m next on your doorstep or out and about across Stoke-on-Trent North and Kidsgrove, tell me what pride means to you and your family. Let’s keep talking—and keep working together to make our area somewhere we can all feel proud of.