THERE was a time when a tour around its works was as high on the “to do” list of visitors to Worcester as a stop off at the Cathedral or the Guildhall.

Sadly those day are long gone and although the independent and magnificent Museum of Royal Worcester remains, much of the rest of the site of the Worcester Royal Porcelain Company, which once carried the city’s name worldwide, is now covered by millennium housing.

With the passing of time and the changing of business fortunes it might be difficult to appreciate now just how iconic this factory was. For example, in 1951, when benefactor CW Dyson Perrins funded a new museum which, not surprisingly, bore his name, along came Princess Elizabeth to open it. Not many business names carried that much clout in the days before the Royals became more “public”.

In 1966 the Severn Street works had another royal visitor when up rolled the Earl of Snowdon at the wheel of a silver blue Aston Martin DB5. Princess Margaret’s husband was there in his role as an advisor to the Council of Industrial Design. Two officers of which, sensibly, arrived in their own transport.

Lord Snowdon found his tour of the factory so fascinating he stayed an hour longer than had been anticipated. Certainly longer  than his wife had expected, because she was back in London waiting to start their son’s fifth birthday party. With apologies all round at having to leave, the Earl put the pedal to the metal and zoomed off back to the jelly and ice cream.

Sports stars were other familiar signatures in the visitors book and six months before Lord Snowdon several of the West Indies cricket team which was playing Worcestershire at New Road dropped in. It would have been an autograph hunter’s dream because as well as Gary Sobers (arguably the greatest all rounder the sport has ever seen), they included legendary off spinner Lance Gibbs and the fearsome fast bowler Charlie Griffith.

The heady days of the 1960s, which saw record profits announced, were highlighted by the firm purchasing its first computer in 1967 “to ease the clerical burden of the company”. Until then it had shared a corporate facility in Birmingham. A comparable computer today would have a capacity at least a million, if not a billion, times greater. As one of the experts here said: “It’s like comparing an early steam driven car with a Bugatti Veyron. They’re both cars and they both go forward, but that’s about it.”

In 1980 Royal Worcester produced its most expensive piece ever in an effort to combat the growing financial storm clouds. The Rainbow Lorikeet was the first in a series of exotic birds by James Alder and was marketed in a limited edition of 50 for £3,850 each. Or nearly £12,000 today. As part of the lengthy manufacturing process, it took artist Arthur Badham more than a fortnight to paint each model.

But the Lorikeet couldn’t keep Royal Worcester flying. There had been a merger with Spode in 1976 due to heavy competition from abroad, but it failed to halt the slide and in 2005 a large part of the Royal Worcester Severn Street factory site was sold to developers. The company went into administration in November 2008 and early the following year the brand name and intellectual property were acquired by Portmeirion Pottery Group, which has a manufacturing base in Stoke on Trent.