THE LAST WORD
Each week Bristol Business News lets a prominent member of the area’s business community have the last word on its weekly e-bulletin.
This week Fiona Francombe, site director at The Bottle Yard Studios, answers our 10 questions:
What was the LAST: 
Film you watched? Sliding Doors for the third time. It took Peter Howitt (producer) several years to raise the finance and is a lesson in holding out for something you believe in, particularly in the film industry.
Book you read? Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey – my mother suffers from Alzheimer’s so strangely comforting and familiar.
Music you bought/downloaded? Do I Love You (Indeed I Do) by Frank Wilson. My husband secretly asked my son’s soul band to learn it for their set at my recent birthday party.
Concert or play you went to? Walking the Chains at the Passenger Shed.
Sporting event you attended? Clifton RFC; my son plays in the first team.
Holiday you went on? My husband was working on the new Channel 4 series Indian Summers in Penang last year, so I went out a couple of times to visit.
Restaurant you ate in? Souk Kitchen, North St. Consistently good, and within walking distance of home.
Thing that annoyed you? People parking in our road and taking up two parking spaces with one car. Park by all means but please be considerate about it.
Thing that made you laugh out loud? The things that go on in The Bottle Yard Studios office – you wouldn’t believe some of the requests we get!
Piece of good advice you were given? Tell people what they need to know – no waffle, no opinion, just the facts. I may have failed miserably in this article….
Lancashire-born Fiona Francombe has lived in Bristol for more than 20 years. Starting out as location manager for TV, she spent 14 years working in Bristol, Bath and the West Country on credits including Casualty, I Saw You, Bertie & Elizabeth, Teachers, Persuasion and Lark Rise to Candleford. Fiona has managed The Bottle Yard Studios in Hengrove since the Bristol City Council initiative opened in 2010 with the aim of providing viable alternative studio space outside London, whilst addressing the drop in inward investment levels which followed the departure of some of Bristol’s longest running productions to Wales, such as Casualty and Being Human. Just four years on the Studios are booming – last year they hosted some of the biggest TV titles to be produced in the UK in 2014, including BBC Two’s Wolf Hall, Disney/ABC Studios’ Galavant and BBC One’s Poldark.
