Buying British

[Gazzer]

How many of us put any thought into the things we buy?
Do you buy British at all costs ?
Do you see if the item you are buying has a British equivalent.
Is it purely down to cost ?
How do you feel about supporting British industries?
Where do you stand on this subject and how far would you go to put your money back in British pockets.

 

[DHTiling]

I buy what works for me and do not take into account where it is made.

Price is an issue as well , if you look at most products made in Britain , then the prices can be silly high .

Made in Britain used to mean something but not anymore , take British tiles for instance , some of the worst quality controlled tiles i have ever worked with.

So again to answer , No i do not go out my way to buy British.

 

[Diggy]

The trouble is a lot of stuff is hard to trace , and how do you define British for instance?

In our line of work for example I can't think of a decent tool for tiling that is British off the top of my head.
Food is generally rather more expensive if it is british also.

Having said that I do try sometimes to buy locally , for instance I recently bought a new graphics card from the local pooter shop in town rather over the internet to support local business. It cost me more but sometomes I think it has to be done.
After all , imho , repealing of the Glass/Seagal act , Globalisation , cheap imported Chinese tat , cheap debt and a corrupt political elite has given us the mess we're now in . But thats for another topic :lol:

So in answer to the OP , I take into account ( but don't always apply ) many different metrics such as price , location , origin , production facilities and wether or not it's French :0).

Cheers

Diggy

 

[Andy Allen]

Same as Dave, sadley the days of buying British meant buying quality have long gone..

 

[White Room]

As above, I tend to think of German tools as one of the better buys even though they maybe a bit dearer there built to last.

 

[AliGage]

I do when it comes to food. Local butcher and fruit and veg. If it's supermarket purchases i check the bags and packaging. Living in East Anglia we have the best land for growing pots and the weather to boot. My roasties on Sunday are not starting out in Argentina.

 

[Rookery]

I would prefer to buy British manufactured/produced products and even pay a premium but sadly between them, the politicians, management and trade unions managed to screw up British industry so there is very little left. Its not just us though, I've got some electrical equipment sold & packaged under a highly regarded German brand name and even that is made in China. You just dont know these days. Even the beef we're eating is dodgy.

 

[Jeff the tiler]

Add sustainable and green products to "buying british" and it is all a complete nightmare. for me it's a needs must basis so loyalty to british products is quite low on the agenda which is a shame.

 

[Aston]

why has british standards slowly gone down hill...it has to be a mindset? not everybodies but perhaps a majority.

reason i say that is, japan and germany lose a world war but still maintain very high standards regarding build quality, engineering and technology....

japan have been through a massive recession (still technically in it ie the 90's housing crash) germany have merged east with west and still pushed on, so why has britian gone down hill....i personally reckon its a psychology ..when the tories striped us clean in the early 80's it left us with a better economy but a weaker workforce and the standard of the workforce results in the standard of the products and the standard of the future workers

so, the answer is in the past...do what did and the future will be brighter...invest in the uk, invest in your own ideas, invest or, well we have that answer already don't we. save a penny or invest in the uk.....the only way to get the wheels working is to put oil in the engine, even if it costs more today, it will be more economical in the future..

 

[CJ]

Does Britain actually make stuff.......so many have gone down the pan, or worse, Sold out.

 

[Dougs Third Go]

same as Dave for me.

 

[Spud]

the UK is the 6th largest manufacturer in the world, our defence industry is the second biggest after the US and we have state of the art equipment being produced here ,some might say its a shameful that we are great at producing weapons but all the major formula one teams have stuff manufactured here so at the very high end where quality really counts we are still up there with the best in the world, Rolls royce make the best jet engines in the world , Dyson make the best vacuum cleaners, I could go on and on but would be wasting my time as most folks dont want to believe that this country is great and just want to complain and point out where its going wrong but dont want to do anything about it.

 

[Daveshadowman]

Try to buy British were we can but not always possible

 

[Colour Republic]

Try and avoid British Made products if I can, it's all made by bloody northerners

 

[Rookery]

the UK is the 6th largest manufacturer in the world, our defence industry is the second biggest after the US and we have state of the art equipment being produced here ,some might say its a shameful that we are great at producing weapons but all the major formula one teams have stuff manufactured here so at the very high end where quality really counts we are still up there with the best in the world, Rolls royce make the best jet engines in the world , Dyson make the best vacuum cleaners, I could go on and on but would be wasting my time as most folks dont want to believe that this country is great and just want to complain and point out where its going wrong but dont want to do anything about it.

I believe our country is great. I also believe that we have the best brains and can manufacture the best products. However, I also feel James Dyson is a bit insincere when he goes on about British manufacturing when his vacuum cleaners were assembled from parts made abroad and a year or two ago, he transferred production to Malaysia because assembly costs were cheaper and assembly would be closer to his parts suppliers. I believe this put another 800 British workers on the dole.

 

[Gazzer]

Try and avoid British Made products if I can, it's all made by bloody northerners

yeah but everyone is north to you ! :lol:

 

[Dougs Third Go]

Try and avoid British Made products if I can, it's all made by bloody northerners

only thing southerners can make is a bloody big fuss..:lol:

 

[Spud]

the US outsourced a lot of manufacturing jobs but alot of US companies are bringing back production to the United States , Japan are doing the same as they too outsourced alot of work in the past 10 years both have realised that it does their ecconomies real damage and hopefully our companies and government will realise this and bring back producers here it doesnt help when the banks are risk averse to lending money to British businesses here in the Uk but have an open check book for companies who wish to set up in foreign climbs

 

[Diggy]

In the past 10 years or more it was simply cheaper to make the goods elsewhere whilst at the same time pumping out cheap debt in our own countries .This of course encourages the gullible to take on more debt , move house , withdraw equity , spend it on imported tat which fuelled a consumer boom and so it goes on until...................................
........the money runs out which it of course did in the end of of what is just another economic cycle.

The reason the USA , Japan and even the UK is bring some manufacturing home is that the chinese and other BRIC workers are getinng a little better off , there cost of living goes up , they then start to demand higher wages to buy more stuff , this of course drives up their labour costs which in turn starts to make less economic sense for our manufacturers to outsource , ya de ya de ya and so it goes on until the next time.

Diggy

 

[John Benton]

only thing southerners can make is a bloody big fuss..:lol:

Or mess up an economy, big styleee

 

[AliGage]

Wasn't Gordon Brown from Scotland??

Depends how far back you wanna go to pin blame i suppose.

 

[Jeff the tiler]

Unfortunately it seems customers have no loyalty, can not remember when I have last laid an english tile. Our customer base are highly price sensitive and unfortunately this seems to take most english companies out of the market. Probably Original Style the only company left in size now they have quarries onboard. It's a real shame but can not see anyone new entering the market for a long time other apart from adhesive and grout market, even then i have my doubts if it is manufactured here or just branded here.

We could start a rumour that 6" white with spacer lugs are the next trend or even Topaz vein with it's "Exciting chicken design" may get the companies up in Stoke up and running again. OKAY JUST A DREAM!:nopity:

 

[Deleted member 9966]

If anybody wants to buy British walking boots, there's a company called Altberg based in North Yorkshire who are still making boots here in Britain. Not cheap mind you, but walking boots never have been. I will seriously be considering buying boots from this company and I never imagined there would be a UK manufacturer of boots still around.

 

[White Room]

If anybody wants to buy British walking boots, there's a company called Altberg based in North Yorkshire who are still making boots here in Britain. Not cheap mind you, but walking boots never have been. I will seriously be considering buying boots from this company and I never imagined there would be a UK manufacturer of boots still around.

Northampton still have Dr Martins.....

 

[Time's Ran Out]

This is a Great Britain!

 

[Rookery]

What a load of old cobblers :lol:

 

[rainsco]

...., I've got some electrical equipment sold & packaged under a highly regarded German brand name and even that is made in China. You just dont know these days. Even the beef we're eating is dodgy.

thats the truth. here in germany the biggest industry are cars. my new van comes from hannover. thats one reason i buy vw. but vw plans 10 new plants and 7 of them will be in china. so most of my money goes outside germany.
and yes, all the german electric tools come from taiwan or china. only Festool i think is a real german brand. but taiwan is ok. every state specialize on things. taiwan has a big production industry and very high quality. look on the bike sector. italy has great tiles and always the best design. uk has great artists the are always on front. cyprus had low taxes... so it can change..

the next car i dream of is a TVR with the six zylinder straight 4l engine. and next bike brake will be definitly a HOPE.

 

[DHTiling]

So is it right to say for example :

British product for British tilers..?.. i read this on a social media website and did not see any wrong in it but i do know it was taken as being racist.

How PC do we get over the usage of words..?

 

[stephenoneill]

the british have a great history of inventing and manufacturing of the highest quality ;the industrial revolution was british based, you just have to go back to your roots stop buying cheap foreign goods ;shop locally buy british be proud again ;i say that as an irishman living in france

 

[Lee@emctiles]

Good debate......

Started selling a truly British owned Tile Adhesive, it's nice to know that profits are staying in this country and I'm doing a little bit to make what is a family owned business to keep producing quality products.