Our Beginnings

Bristol City Council opened The Bottle Yard Studios in 2010, providing a modern purpose for the cavernous Tank Houses standing on the seven acre site on Whitchurch Lane which had for more than 50 years housed a winery and bottle plant, including at one time the production line for three million litres of Harvey’s Bristol Cream per year.

At a time when demand for UK studio space was beginning to build, The Bottle Yard Studios brought this industrial site back to life, offering flexible space for productions of all sizes and budgets whilst strengthening Bristol’s reputation as a leading filmmaking hub, stimulating local industry and creating employment and economic benefit.

The eight stages (Studios 1-8) at The Bottle Yard’s original site TBY1 hosted a stream of major high-end TV dramas, films, gameshows and children’s programmes throughout its first decade of operations, made by UK and international clients.

Run by a small team with professional backgrounds in the industry, the Studios quickly became popular with producers thanks to its strong links to the local experienced crew base, its close partnership with Bristol Film Office facilitiating location filming in the city, and the easy access it offers to the stunning range of locations on offer across the West and South West region.

Sustainable Expansion

TBY2 – The Bottle Yard’s premium expansion facility – opened in 2022, increasing the number of stages offered across the entire Bottle Yard complex to 11 (approx. 154,000 sq ft of shooting space) across two sites.

Less than half a mile from The Bottle Yard’s original site, TBY2 is a £12m redevelopment of industrial buildings on nearby Hawkfield Way, backed by West of England Mayoral Combined Authority Investment.

The state-of-the-art facility houses Studio 9, Studio 10 and Studio 11, three fully soundproofed stages ranging from 7,000 sq ft to 20,0000 sq ft of clear span build space, accompanied by more than 40,000 sq ft of ancillary space.

TBY2’s power supply is supported by a gigantic 1MWp solar rooftop array consisting of more than 2,300 photovoltaic (PV) panels. Funded by the Bristol Energy Cooperative, it is the UK’s largest community-owned solar rooftop array and, at the time of its installation, it was the largest PV rooftop on a UK studio. Read more about TBY2’s award-winning sustainability features here.

Employment and Skills Development

135 jobs were created during TBY2’s redevelopment works and more than 860 jobs were forecast to be created over 10 years through the Workforce Development Programme that accompanies The Bottle Yard’s WECA-backed expansion at TBY2. This programme includes liaison between the region’s film and TV industry and local skills and education bodies including schools, colleges and universities, to strengthen the local production workforce and target development of new talent.

In 2024, the West of England Film & HETV Workforce Development Programme launched to equip industry entrants from the region with necessary training to become ‘set-ready’ for careers in scripted film and TV production. Delivered by Bristol City Council’s Film Services (The Bottle Yard Studios, Bristol Film Office and Bristol UNESCO City of Film), the Programme was funded by the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority’s Mayoral Priority Skills Fund and part-funded by the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. The programme saw 47 local entrants participate in Training, 32 of whom went on to secure paid work in the industry.

Following the success of this pilot, Bristol City Council secured BFI National Lottery Places funding for All Set West, delivered in partnership with the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority. Launched in 2025, the regional skills package is designed to support participants from backgrounds currently underrepresented in the film/TV workforce with inclusive training, information, connections, work opportunities and networks, to help them gain employment – and thrive in their new careers.

All Set West was named Best Industry Skills Initiative at the 2025 Broadcast Tech Innovation Awards. Judges described it as “a skills initiative that delivers real, measurable change, with its inclusive focus and innovative approach to building a new creative pipeline.”