Now, however, the high street is awash with quality goods produced inexpensively in the countries of the Far East, South America, Asia and North Africa.

Even a large proportion of the products proudly regarded as national institutions are now either straightforward imports, or international hybrids of components made in second and third world countries.

On Thursday, Raleigh announced that it would no longer be making steel bicycle frames at its Nottingham plant. Aluminium frames, which customers prefer, will now be used exclusively, and imported from abroad.

Bike makers Raleigh will now import all their cycle frames

Sheer economics have crept up and bitten British manufacturing sharply where it wasn't expecting it.

In so many cases, it is simply much cheaper to get products made overseas, and few manufacturers have been able to adapt to the shift in the production process.

The results have been huge job losses, crippled local economies and a rapid depletion of manufacturing skills.

A survey recently published by trade magazine Clothing World showed the cost per minute of manufacturing in a number of different countries. The UK was the 5th most expensive at just over 16p a minute. The cheapest was Egypt, where the same work is costed at just over 5p.

Editor of Clothing World Leonie Barrie said: "Even with the cost of freighting the goods back into the country again, the savings are quite substantial."

It can be a lot cheaper to get things made overseas

High street bastion Marks and Spencer, the trusted custodian of sartorial quality, has in recent years steadily increased its sale of imported clothes, and announced this Spring that it would in future be stocking even fewer British-made items.

UK manufacturers and their unions are adamant that buying British still means buying quality. But for the past decade they have realised that they cannot compete with imports on a price basis.

Ms Barrie said: "It is a world wide phenomenon. The United States outsources to South America, we outsource in the main to the Far East and North Africa.

"But the customer is concerned first and foremost with the cost of an item. All clothing by law must carry identification of its country of origin, but the amount of people who are concerned with that are few and far between."

Industries say they are faced with a choice between outsourcing - posting large chunks of their production process overseas - or going completely under.

Long-standing pottery and china manufacturers, including Royal Doulton, have operations in the Far East, and reimport the goods - which are marked with their country of origin - for sale in the UK.

Half of Marks and Spencer's clothing range will come from overseas

Shoe manufacturers including Clark's import from a variety of different countries.

Unions say that while they oppose sourcing overseas, manufacturers themselves need to wake up to the challenge presented by low-cost overseas competition.

Jack Firth, of the National Union of Knitwear, Footwear and Apparel Trades, said that manufacturers needed to look at the opportunities presented by niche markets.

He said: "We cannot compete on price. That should be abundantly evident. But what this country has a wealthy tradition of is ideas and design.

"We also need to be looking at the ways we can use technologies, and advertising and publicity to promote what we do."

Some Royal Doulton items are made in Malaysia

He said that the UK needed to do a far better job of marketing itself as a manufacturer of quality goods. "There is a myth that Italy is the best manufacturer of textiles and shoes, when in fact they make nothing better than can be found right here.

"They have the right attitude, they market themselves well, and it is something we need to learn to do.

"There is a conception that the textile industry is dead and buried, and that is far from true. For example, 50% of all jeans worn in this country are made in Preston.

"But too many manufacturers have got themselves into a cosy little hole, manufacturing traditional goods in a traditional way. They have to face the challenge or they will go under."

The shining exceptions to the general decline in British manufacturing do indeed all seem to be based on the delivery of high quality or innovative products.

Clothing company Daks (which is owned by a Japanese company) actively promotes its made in Britain status, and the quality that implies.

Cleaning machine supremos Dysons are all made in the UK. Spokeswoman Harriet Rodgers said: "All Dyson machines are made in our factory in Wiltshire, and then exported. Every Dyson machine in the world has been made in the UK."

JCB excavators are seen all over the world, and innovative products such as the mini-digger serve to raise the company's profile and increase demand for its Staffordshire-made products.

Diversification - one bootmaker turned his attentions to fetishwear

Diversification within industries has also been seen to be crucial to their survival.

Northampton-based boot manufacturer WJ Brookes saw the writing on the wall, and took an imaginative leap into the production of fetishwear, under the name Divine.

Another bootmaker, Jones, hasn't abandoned its brogues image altogether, but has included new lines in the range it offers.

Silver Cross pram makers - which last week announced its days were numbered because of the competition posed by buggies - may well be wishing they had thought to do the same a few years back.

Many industries have yet to grab the nettle, however, but initiatives to rescue and promote what is left of manufacturing in the UK are in hand.

TUC spokesman Rob Sanders said: "There has been a lack of investment in British manufacturing, and a short term approach to solving challenges facing it, encouraged by previous governments.