About Bristol

Located in the southwest of England, Bristol is situated on the River Avon, leading to the Severn Estuary. Known for its impressive suspension bridge, its annual air balloon event and its historic harbour. Several famous faces are from Bristol, including John Cleese of Monty Python, Naomie Harris from the most recent James Bond films and Patrick Stewart from Star Trek.

If you're planning to spend some time filming in Bristol, you won't struggle to find suitable places to shoot. Whether you're looking for an urban or rural shooting location, the city and the surrounding countryside offer various locations to suit your requirements.

Filming Options in Bristol

To ensure you have a successful film shoot, you'll need some help from various local companies. There's a lot to consider when planning a shoot: you'll need caterers to feed and transport your crew and find a studio where you can shoot in a controlled environment.

• Film Studios
  Most filming shoots require a film studio at some point. Thankfully, Bristol is home to several film studios that can help you bring your project together. Film studios typically contain production spaces, dressing rooms, makeup rooms, wardrobe rooms, production offices and green rooms. The controlled environment gives your talented crew the space to work their magic.
  
  
• Caterer
  A busy crew will become a hungry crew. Hiring an experienced, fully-equipped catering team will ensure that the crew is adequately fed and watered, meaning you can spend more time on the shoot. Professional caterers will also offer a range of options for those with dietary requirements, such as vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free meals.
  
  
• Van Hire
  If you don't have one already, you'll probably need to hire a van to transport your equipment between filming locations. Luckily, Bristol is home to several reputable van-hire companies.

Filming Companies in Bristol

• Floating Harbour
  Docked in the harbour in Bristol city centre, you'll find Floating Harbour, a full-service film and video production, live production, animation studio. Previous clients include the NHS, IBM, RAC and Citroen. Floating Harbour offers a wide variety of services, including production equipment hire, video editing, colour grading, compositing, motion graphics and audio production. Vitally, the company prioritises sustainability. For example, the site uses very little water and fossil fuels. Additionally, Floating Harbour offers composting toilets and electric vehicle charging.
  
  
• Full Flavour Events
  Full Flavour Events provide film set and film crew catering in Bath, Bristol and Gloucester. The company offers bespoke menus created especially for your crew, meaning everyone is provided for, including those with vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free dietary requirements. Additionally, Full Flavour Events offer locally sourced produce from suppliers located in Bristol, Bath and Somerset, ensuring the ingredients are of the best possible quality.
  
  
• Bristol Car and Van Hire
  Bristol Car and Van Hire offer long and short-term vehicle hire, including small cars, hatchbacks, people carriers, wheelchair-accessible minibuses and vans. The Bristol-based company has thirty years of experience in providing self-drive hire vehicles for various purposes at competitive prices.

Pros and Cons of Filming in Bristol

Advantages

• Architecture
  Bristol is known for its eclectic combination of impressive architecture. Parts of the medieval city still remain, including several churches dating all the way back to the 12th-century. Bristol is also home to several listed Tudor buildings which still stand today, including The Red Lodge and Thornbury Castle. Suppose you're looking for historical locations to include in your next shoot. In that case, you won't struggle to find a suitable place in Bristol!
  
  
• Access to Green Spaces
  While Bristol city centre doesn't contain many green spaces, the city is surrounded by idyllic countryside in Somerset and Gloucestershire. So if your shoot requires rural scenes, you'll be happy to discover that the countryside is easily accessible.
  
  
• Proximity to London
  Bristol is easily accessible from London. The journey by train takes approximately an hour and a half by train and over two hours by car depending on traffic.

Disadvantages

• Public Transport
  According to locals, Bristol doesn't have the best public transport system. One report even found that Bristol is the worst city for travelling by public transport. So if you're visiting the city for more than a few days, it might be wise to rent a car.
  
  
• Weather
  Due to its proximity to the coast, Bristol had an oceanic climate with cold, rainy winters and mild frequently rainy summers. Don't forget to bring your raincoat when visiting the city!
  
  
• Expensive
  Like any big city, Bristol can be expensive compared to other UK cities. In fact, the cost of living in Bristol is more expensive than 60 percent of cities in Western Europe. However, the city is less expensive than London, which is 32 percent more expensive.

Famous Locations in Bristol

• Clifton Suspension Bridge
  Clifton Suspension Bridge spans the Avon Gorge and stands 101 metres above the River Avon. The impressive bridge links Clifton in Bristol to Leigh Woods in Somerset and is around 1,352 feet in length. Clifton Suspension Bridge took 33 years to complete, and the architect, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, described it as his "first love". But, unfortunately, Brunel died before the bridge was completed.
  
  
• Bristol Zoo Garden
  If you're an animal lover, you'll want to visit Bristol's Zoo. Located in tranquil Clifton, Bristol Zoo Gardens are one of the most popular tourist attractions in the city. The zoo is home to a wide variety of animals, including gorillas, red pandas, African penguins, meerkats, ring-tailed lemurs, seals, lions, spider monkeys and many other intriguing creatures. As well as the animals, tourists can explore the zoo's peaceful gardens, which are full of exotic plants and trees from around the world.
  
  
• SS Great Britain
  Docked in Bristol Harbour, the SS Great Britain tells the story of one of Britain's greatest engineers, Isambard Kingdom Brunel. The SS Great Britain was brought home to the United Kingdom from the Falkland Islands in 1970, an 8,000-mile journey fraught with danger. Thankfully, the ship arrived back in the UK intact. Today, the ship is Bristol's most popular visitor attraction, allowing tourists to learn more about Bristol's maritime history.