ROYAL Worcester Porcelain is fighting back.

After months of bad news and terrible financial results, the company is looking to the future, with a firm statement: "We're here to stay."

A launch of a new range, unashamedly more fashionable and funky than what Royal Worcester is known for, shows how the company is targeting a different type of buyer.

This is Jamie Oliver versus 'ye olde pottery', as one of the company's directors puts it.

Years ago Royal Worcester, a proud employer of thousands of city workers, could rely on its reputation as one of the country's top porcelain manufacturers.

But those times are well are truly gone. Peter Watson, the company's sales and marketing director says: "People are spending money in other places. Given the choice between going on holiday, buying a plasma television or buying a Royal Worcester figurine, what would you do?"

Times are tough. The notoriously fickle 'middle market' is feeling the pinch and Royal Worcester has had to cut back.

In Mr Watson's words: "The re-structuring is complete and we are in a position to go forward with the business."

For 'restructuring' read redundancies and property sell-offs.

More than 200 people have lost their jobs since the end of 2003, leaving a workforce of around 200.

"It's a sad thing, the human element," said Mr Watson.

"The company has been going for 254 years and the lowest we've got down to is 40 or 50."

"We have to give consumers what we want. It's the consumer that will dictate what and how much we sell and how many we employ.

"It's always very difficult when restructuring is going on and we don't know whether it's a short term or a long term thing but we certainly intend to stay here in business."

How to do that is, of course, the hard part.

"We've got to keep innovating," said Mr Watson.

"In the 21st century you've got to keep a very close eye on the marketplace. Twenty years ago we would never have envisaged having to change quite so quickly but people's demands have changed. The consumer is a lot more demanding and that's their right."

The company has launched its 'Vintage Chic' range of retro-style cookware and tableware, with celebrity chef Jamie Oliver as its face and mugs selling for as little as £8.

There is a sense that the upheaval of the past couple of years is over, despite market uncertainties.

Royal Worcester's prestige line has always managed to remain buoyant despite market fluctuations, with three more painters having just been taken on and a major contract with a European princess in the pipeline.

Mr Watson said he understood Royal Worcester's privileged position in the city but warned against thinking the industry was in terminal decline.

"A lot of people like to think of the 'ye olde pottery' myth and they tend to look back with rose-coloured glasses," he said.

"We have to be prepared but if we get the right products to sell, we will have a very successful business."

And, as one of Worcester's biggest tourist draws, that's good for the city.