Assistant shop manager Tanya Crow, manager Toni Creedy and volunteer helper Ginnette Bree holding goods on sale at a much lesser price than their actual value. Picture by Richard Wainwright (00750761)

WEDGWOOD china at reduced prices on sale at the British Red Cross Shop is proving to be the right cup of tea for collectors.

The shop in Queen Street is one of just a handful of the charity’s premium outlets in England which have recently received large consignments of best-quality china after the famous company Waterford Wedgwood went into administration.

The company sold off unused stock in their warehouses and an entrepreneur who purchased it was told that under the terms of the deal he could only sell that stock on to non-profit-making organisations.

British Red Cross national buyer Kathryn Larby visited the warehouses and bought large quantities of tea and coffee sets, dishes, figurines and collectables to resell in their shops in areas most likely to attract buyers.

She said: ‘We chose some of our premium shops to sell the goods on for us, including those in Jersey, Kensington, Cheltenham, Oxford and Romsey, where we believed there would be a market for Wedgwood items.’