Businesses spanning model making, security, costumes and logistics are the latest firms to join the thriving film and TV-related community at Bristol’s Bottle Yard Studios.
The four firms further expand the on-site creative hub at the site, which is already home to a wide range of specialists in areas such as transport, music and sound and equipment. 
The former winery and bottling plant in Hengrove has become an established base for UK film and television production in recent years, attracting major UK and overseas productions of all sizes, including CBeebies show Andy’s Prehistoric Adventures, ABC Studios’ major US TV epic fairy tale Galavant and Sky 1 comedy Trollied.
This in turn has helped create a vibrant network of small businesses offering production firms nearly everything they need in one place.
The latest arrivals are Amalgam, Location Assist, E Murphy Designs and Precision Cargo Services.
Amalgam, a long-established Bristol-based model making company, offers a one-stop shop for props, scenery, replicas, paint effects and sets to filmmakers across the UK. Its new facility at The Bottle Yard Studios provides exhibition and meeting space, and workshops housing a broad range of technical skills and machinery.
Amalgam senior manager Paul Galloway said: “Our new site at The Bottle Yard Studios gives us a fantastic opportunity to be involved in the film and TV industry, and to showcase our work. With easy access to the M4 corridor we are ideally situated for a fast turnaround and delivery on any project.”
Location Assist has been providing security and traffic management to the entertainment industry since 2003 and is now one of the market leaders in film and TV location security supplying SIA-qualified operatives to film, TV, commercials and music videos. Its Bottle Yard base compliments its Essex headquarters.
The firm’s operations manager Jason Lampshire said: “We’re thrilled to have opened our second outlet at The Bottle Yard Studios and to have a base in the heart of the South West’s booming TV and film industry.”
Liz Murphy of E Murphy Designs is a fully self-taught seamstress and has been making costumes as a hobby since 2006. She broke into the TV sector through a chance meeting in 2014 when she was working at the Bristol Royal Infirmary as an administrator.
She was hired as the drape maker on the Galavant pilot then filming at Bottle Yard. Since then Liz’s career has forged ahead and she worked on series one and two of the US Network’s hit medieval musical comedy, with her work expanding during series two to include costume making.
She said: “Being based at The Bottle Yard Studios has honestly allowed me to completely change my career and follow my dream, something few people get the chance to do. I have gained valuable insight into how the industry works and met wonderful people and valuable contacts.”
Precision Cargo Services has been providing all types of logistics, domestically and internationally, to the film and TV industry for more than 25 years. It already operates from London Heathrow, Pinewood Studios, Pinewood Studios Wales and Felixstowe – the UK’s largest sea port.
Business Development Manager Justine Williams said: “The Bottle Yard was a natural extension to our commitment to serve the West Country and Wales following the opening of our Precision Cardiff facility at Pinewood Cardiff Studios last year.”
Bottle Yard site director Fiona Francombe said: “We are delighted to welcome Amalgam, Location Assist, E Murphy Designs and Precision Cargo to our on-site hub and build on the diverse range of facilities we can offer productions based at The Bottle Yard Studios as well as the region’s wider TV and film community, and we are confident their presence will strengthen the city’s reputation as a leading film making hub.
“As supporters of emerging talent we are exceptionally pleased that Elizabeth Murphy, from South Bristol, has joined us. It’s wonderful to see her career going from strength to strength, and to be able to offer work space to a home grown enterprise.”
Other recent additions to The Bottle Yard Studio’s tenant community include specialist transport company Studio Cars, location supplies company Location One, Emmy-award winning music and sound design company Radium Audio, and Filmscape Media, a leading supplier of film and television equipment in the UK.
