A firm supplying TV and film productions such as Downton Abbey with everything from lighting and power generators to pop-up changing rooms and gaffer tape has become the latest business to open a base at Bristol’s successful Bottle Yard Studios.
Location One’s Bristol office is its second regional branch since launching in 2008. It now operates from a head office in Barking, London and a main depot base in Manchester.
The firm is the 13th tenant to open for business at The Bottle Yard Studios in Hengrove. At 300,000 sq ft the site is the largest dedicated film and TV studio in the West of England and has become a magnet for firms supplying the industry with services and products ranging from music for soundtracks and adverts to recycled film sets.
Owned by the city council and developed in a former wine warehouse, it has also boosted Bristol’s standing as a centre for film and TV production and has played a key role in bringing major productions to the city, including the highly-anticipated adaptation of Hilary Mantel’s Booker Prize-winning historical novel Wolf Hall, which premieres on BC Two tomorrow at 9pm.
Location One’s Bottle Yard office will support the last-minute demands of production and location departments and offer products for sale or hire anywhere in the UK at any time of day. 
Its team includes ex-location managers who share years of ‘on-set’ experience of the pressures and demands of filming on location.
Bristol manager Rowan Clarke, pictured at the new base, said: “The Bottle Yard Studios was the obvious choice for the Bristol branch of Location One as it puts us right at the heart of the industry in the South West.
“It’s been clear to us for some time that the Studios are consistently attracting more and more new productions and businesses, so it’s great to be where the action is.
“As well as being able to service filming on location throughout the South West and Wales, we are perfectly placed for productions using the studios and facilities within The Bottle Yard. Our stock of hire and sale items is growing daily and we aim to provide the same excellent level of service that productions expect from our London and Manchester branches.”
Bottle Yard site director Fiona Francombe added: “As an ex-location manager myself, I know only too well the sheer number of complex demands that the average shoot can bring. Location One’s unique services are delivered by people from within the industry who share that understanding, making it really beneficial to the many production and location departments it works with all over the UK.
“We’re very happy they chose Bristol as their second regional branch, and we are confident that their presence will further enhance what the studios can offer to British and international productions that choose to base production with us.”
Some of Location One’s most popular on-site products include purpose-designed pop-up screens to create costume rooms, coolers for closed sets and production office space, and ‘puddle-sucker’ machines to remove the common problem of surface water.
It has the largest fleet of tower lights in the industry, a range of power generators, heaters, bowsers and trackway and has supported more than 1,000 productions spanning TV, film and commercials.
Credits include Downton Abbey, Call The Midwife, Lewis, Skyfall, Snow White and the Huntsman, Thor: The Dark World and Fast & Furious 6.
As well as one-off productions and series, the Bottle Yard Studio are is also used as the base for Channel 4’s Deal or No Deal gameshow and the Sky 1 comedy series Trollied.
Click here for a full list of tenants at The Bottle Yard Studios
