Kidderminster: the Factory Town

Image: The Carpet Manufactory of Messrs Brinton and Lewis, Kidderminster (c.1860). R W Boodle, Worcestershire Scrap Book, vol. II (1903).

Image from: Local Studies and History, Birmingham Central Library

In the 1860s the Kidderminster carpet industry was inextricably linked with steam power. It developed a skyline of industrial chimneys as it developed into a factory town. Local carpet making reached its high point of prosperity after World War II in the 1950s and 1960s. In the 1970s foreign competition ended the boom and companies faced falling profits. Some survived by restructuring or merging with their competitors whilst others went bankrupt and closed.