People / My Bristol Favourites
My Bristol favourites: Fiona Francombe
Fiona Francombe is site manager at The Bottle Yard Studios in Hengrove. Owned and managed by Bristol City Council, the studios started as an experiment to see if Bristol could address the economic and employment drain from the city when the BBC moved Casualty to Cardiff.
The former bottling and fermenting warehouses on the site are perfect spaces for building television and film sets, with the complex so big that this year five productions have been able to work and film on-site simultaneously: Wolf Hall (BBC), Poldark (BBC), Galavant (ABC), Trollied (Sky 1) and Deal or No Deal (Channel 4).
The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies, a two-part ITV drama showing on December 10 and 11, filmed some scenes last year at the Bottle Yard, where Jefferies’ flat and a police interview room were both recreated.
is needed now More than ever
Here are Fiona’s top-five Bristol favourites:
Souk Kitchen
“This restaurant on North Street never disappoints and is always busy.”
Brandon Hill
“Fantastic views of the city, the dogs love it and we spent many, many long hours in the playground when the children were little. Very happy memories.”
Clifton RFC
“My stepson Ben plays for the first team, having started his rugby career there over 20 years ago in the under 10s. My then boyfriend (now husband) and I spent much of our courtship on the touch line!”
Bristol Cathedral Choir School
“It’s seen the three children through their school careers and all the highs and lows that came with it.”
The Bottle Yard Studios
“There is absolutely no reason why Bristol cannot match London’s offer for film and television productions, given the wealth of talented crew, facilities, locations and environment it can offer. The Bottle Yard Studios is putting Bristol on the map nationally and internationally and Bristol should be very proud of that.”
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