Finished pottery was placed, using the crane next to the packing house, directly onto barges on the Trent and Mersey Canal waiting to take the ceramics out to the coast for international export.

[5] By 2010 Middleport Pottery was at serious risk of permanent closure because of the very poor state of repair of the buildings and an inefficient layout of manufacturing.

In the same year The Prince's Regeneration Trust stepped in to buy and save the buildings with a back-to-back deal with Denby Holdings Ltd. and began a £9 million project to restore the structures, partly funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and Historic England.

When the work of The Prince's Regeneration Trust was divested to several other non-profits its interest in Middleport Pottery was transferred to Re-Form Heritage.

The restoration work was led by Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios and included a varied and extensive programme of training and educational activities to support the local community in skills provision with an emphasis on traditional British craftsmanship.

The unused buildings have been developed to provide accommodation for workshops, enterprise space, craft and community areas, a café, a gallery and a heritage visitor centre.

[6] Areas of the site no longer in use for pottery manufacture provide visitor facilities and workspaces for rent.

The Old Packing House was refurbished and became the new Prince of Wales Studios that is open as a business home for craftspeople to work and exhibit their products.