Trendy food fad leads to shortage

DEMAND for trendy gastropub-style slate plates has led to a shortage of roof tiles, builders say.

Restaurants and foodie pubs serving up meals on square or rectangular slates rather than traditional porcelain plates have sparked a fashion for people to use them at home too.

Shops are selling grey serving platters or table mats, leading slate firms to switch their focus to homeware instead of roofing.

In addition, new regulations and poor infrastructure in China had slowed supply of the raw material.

Philip Brooke, managing director of EBP Building Products in Blackburn, Lancs, sources slate from Brazil and China.

He said: “There has been major growth in the use of natural slate for tableware place mats, which is more profitable and less problematic for quarries. That’s led to a re- focusing of priorities by some in China towards that particular market.

“It’s a fashion thing. You go to a restaurant and they have slate. You have them in John Lewis and customers think they are nice. Slate shortages in general have plagued the industry for a number of years now.

“Manufacturers have closed kilns and plants.

“It’s just a perfect storm of factors affecting the supply chain, which is a potential danger to UK construction.”

He said the continuity of supplies of Chinese slate was the biggest issue.

The knock- on effect of C h i n e s e government measures to control manufacturing and maintain competitiveness has led to the closure of some quarries. He has turned to Brazil for more than 500 tons of slate to help plug the gap and so house projects can forge ahead.