Film crew hire/Bristol/Props and wardrobe
Props and wardrobe for Bristol shoots. Where it comes from, and who runs it on the day.
Bristol’s costume store is on the same site as the stages, at The Bottle Yard Studios: Bristol Costume Services, with more than 90,000 period and contemporary costumes and its own workroom. Props come from smaller hire firms around the city, from Bristol Dockyards’ own Victorian stock, or down from London’s houses, and contemporary wardrobe is bought in the centre. Here’s where to go, how hire is charged, and what Bristol Film Office wants to know about a replica gun. We book the stylist, props buyer or art director, and run it on the day.
Bristol Costume Services · stock
90,000+ costumes
Replica weapons
Declared to the Film Office
Older picture car · Clean Air Zone
£9 a day
Stylist · day rate
£519–647
On this page
01 The people
Who runs props and wardrobe on a shoot
On a corporate interview in a Bristol office, often nobody: the contributor wears their own clothes and the set is the meeting room. On a brand film or an advert, these are the people, at our day rates. We book them from Bristol and Bath where we can, and from across the South West, Cardiff or London where the brief needs them, with travel on the quote.
| Role | What they do | Day rate |
|---|---|---|
| Art director | Designs the look of the set and runs the art department | £675–878 |
| Props buyer | Finds, buys or hires everything on screen, and knows what to buy in the city and what to bring in | £493–585 |
| Set builders | Build, paint and strike the set | £341–512 |
| Stylist | Chooses and fits the wardrobe for talent and contributors | £519–647 |
| Costume | Designs, sources and fits costume for period or character work | £519–694 |
| Wardrobe assistant | Dresses the cast and keeps continuity on the day | £341–398 |
| Hair and make-up | Gets people camera-ready, and keeps them that way | £398, plus a £25 kit fee |
| Armourer | Supplies and looks after any real or imitation weapon on set, which Bristol Film Office wants declared | Quoted on the brief |
Full production · the Lizard, Cornwall · June 2026
A props buyer and HMU on a clifftop
For Cohere’s AI for Empowerment, the unit on the Lizard included an art assistant who doubled as props buyer, and a hair and make-up artist, on a clifftop vehicles couldn’t reach, so the kit went in on beach carts.
Full production · Talland Bay and Lostwithiel, Cornwall · Aug 2025
A key make-up artist for a TV ad
Whistlefish’s first TV ad was two days in one house and on the coast, with two professional leads and real families. We booked a key make-up artist, and a chaperone for the children.
How we crew it · Bristol
Hired at The Bottle Yard, bought in the city
Period costume pulled and fitted at Bristol Costume Services before the day, contemporary wardrobe bought in the centre with the receipts kept for returns, small props from St Nicholas Market’s stalls, and the van on a bay suspended through the council’s film crew parking form. Every purchase and hire is its own line on the quote.
02 Props
Prop hire and set dressing
In October 2026 we could confirm smaller prop hire firms in and around Bristol, a dockyard with its own Victorian stock, and set builders at The Bottle Yard. Furniture and themed ranges come down from London, about two hours by road by The Bottle Yard’s reckoning.
Just outside Bristol
Full To Bursting Prop Hire
A family-run prop store hiring to theatre, TV, film and photo shoots: tables, trolleys, chairs, ladders and trestles, trunks and crates, telephones and typewriters, china and glassware, hats and shoes, and themed and theatre pieces. It sources what it doesn’t have, and makes and alters costume too.
Bristol
Valentina Hire Company
Vintage props: typewriters, cameras and projectors, nautical and military pieces, beauty and wardrobe items, trunks and cases, homeware and furniture.
Harbourside · the SS Great Britain
Bristol Dockyards
The SS Great Britain Trust’s site has Victorian props on site and theatrical props for hire, alongside the ship’s interiors and the dry dock as locations.
The Bottle Yard Studios · BS14 0BH
Set Smith
Builds sets, scenery and props, in its workshop at The Bottle Yard or on location, for anything that has to be made rather than hired.
London · Park Royal, NW10 7BX
Superhire
Furniture and accessories for dressing a room from scratch: seating, tables, storage, office furniture and rugs.
Worth knowing
Bristol Film Office’s code of practice wants rain machines, wet-downs and special effects declared with the application, and letters to neighbours and businesses at least seven days before the shoot. Send them before the van turns up, not on the day (checked October 2026). Filming in Bristol: Code of Practice.
03 Wardrobe
Costume and wardrobe
Bristol’s costume store is at The Bottle Yard, on the same site as the stages. Book the fitting before you book the shoot.
The Bottle Yard Studios · Whitchurch Lane, BS14 0BH
Bristol Costume Services
More than 90,000 period and contemporary costumes and accessories for theatre, TV and film, with its own workroom: pattern cutting and making, alterations, dyeing, breaking down and fitting on site. Founded in 1990, it moved to The Bottle Yard in 2017, where the whole stock sits on one floor of about 30,000 sq ft.
Just outside Bristol
Full To Bursting
Costume making, alterations, styling and sourcing for photo shoots and productions, from the team behind the prop store.
London
Angels Costumes
More than a million items and “eight miles of hanging costume”, with civilian and military uniform collections, for when the period or the numbers go beyond what Bristol holds.
Our crew
Stylists, costume and make-up
We book costume designers and stylists, and hair and make-up artists, with the rest of the crew. Wardrobe runs the fittings before the day, and the rails and continuity photos on it. Local crew first. When a shoot needs more hands, or a role Bristol is short of that week, we bring them in from across the South West, Cardiff or London, and the travel is on the quote before anything is booked.
04 In the city
What a stylist buys in Bristol
Cabot Circus and Broadmead
The city-centre shopping streets, and Cabot Circus under its glass roof, with high-street chains beside independents. A contemporary wardrobe can be bought in a morning; the stylist keeps the receipts and returns what doesn’t go on camera. Cabot Circus.
St Nicholas Market
Trading since 1743, with more than 50 stalls and, by Visit Bristol’s count, the city’s largest collection of independent retailers: jewellery, pottery, clothing and artwork, often made by the traders themselves. The Nails Market runs on Corn Street and Wine Street on Fridays and Saturdays (checked October 2026). St Nicholas Market.
Filming in the market
The markets, St Nicholas included, are council locations: shooting inside goes through Bristol Film Office, like the streets outside. Locations and permits in Bristol.
A fitting in London
When Bristol Costume Services doesn’t have the period stock, London is a day trip: Temple Meads is 1 hour 19 minutes from Paddington on the fastest trains (checked October 2026), so the stylist can be at a fitting there and back the same evening.
05 Specialist
Replica weapons, uniforms, vehicles and the harbour
Weapons
Bristol Film Office’s code of practice wants weapons, real or imitation, declared in the application, along with violence, stunts and special effects, and asks productions to get police guidance before staging a crime, an accident or the use of firearms. Student shoots can’t use weapons, real or fake, on council land at all (checked October 2026). Filming in Bristol: Code of Practice.
In Bath
Bath Film Office tells the police about every permit application in Bath and North East Somerset, and productions take police guidance directly on crimes, accidents and firearms.
The law
Section 12 of the Firearms Act 1968 lets people taking part in a film production have a firearm for the production without holding a certificate. Supplying it and looking after it on set is the armourer’s job. Firearms Act 1968, section 12.
Uniforms
The Bristol code asks for actors’ police uniforms to be covered between takes, so nobody on the street mistakes a costume for an officer.
Picture cars and the Clean Air Zone
Bristol’s zone is Class D, so it charges cars as well as vans: a petrol car below Euro 4 (roughly pre-2006) or a diesel below Euro 6 pays £9 a day, midnight to midnight. A car that’s parked and doesn’t move isn’t charged, and Bath’s Class C zone doesn’t charge private cars (checked October 2026). We check each picture car on GOV.UK before it’s driven in.
Moving the picture car
Grip Services at The Bottle Yard runs low loaders for car shots, an articulated one big enough for an ambulance among them. Tracking on a public road needs police permission, and a road closure of up to two days goes to the Film Office with two weeks’ notice, at £721 + VAT (checked October 2026).
Picture boats
The Harbourside’s own vessels have played parts: the Matthew in Galavant, the Kaskelot in Poldark, and MV Balmoral, built in 1949, in Stan & Ollie and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. City Docks filming goes through Bristol Film Office, and swimming in the Floating Harbour needs special permission (checked October 2026). Harbourside locations.
06 Costs
How prop and costume hire is charged
Quoted per hire
Bristol Costume Services prices each hire, with cleaning included, flexible rates for long TV and film hires, and lower rates for costumes used as props (checked October 2026). Full To Bursting and Valentina price on request.
Replacement value
Every hired item has one: what it costs if it doesn’t come back. Ask each house what its hire covers and what your insurance has to, before anything leaves the building.
Rails and couriers
Bristol Costume Services hires rails and hangers, couriers anywhere in the country overnight, and delivers up to five rails locally, or you collect.
The van
A London collection is a van day on the quote: Superhire hands over and takes back between 8am and 4pm on weekdays. Back in Bristol, a van below Euro 6 diesel or Euro 4 petrol pays the Clean Air Zone’s £9 a day, and a pay and display bay suspended for one day is £22 + VAT per vehicle, with three working days’ notice (checked October 2026). Shoot logistics in Bristol.
On our quote
Purchases and hires go on at cost, each on its own line, with the prep and returns days most jobs need. Returns are scheduled like a shoot day, so hire charges don’t run on.
Need props or wardrobe?
Tell us what’s in the frame. We’ll book the stylist, buyer or art director, hire it at The Bottle Yard, buy it in the city or bring it in, and put each item on the quote. Or call us on 07412 543822.
Quick contact form
07 Questions
Props and wardrobe in Bristol: questions
Where can I hire costumes in Bristol?
Bristol Costume Services at The Bottle Yard Studios in Whitchurch: more than 90,000 period and contemporary costumes and accessories for theatre, TV and film, with fitting rooms and its own workroom for making, alterations, dyeing and breaking down. For bigger period or uniform orders, Angels in London holds more than a million items.
Where can I hire props in Bristol?
From smaller firms: the ones we could confirm in October 2026 are Full To Bursting Prop Hire, just outside the city, for furniture, trunks, typewriters, china and themed pieces, and Valentina Hire Company for vintage props. Bristol Dockyards has Victorian props on site and theatrical props for hire, Set Smith at The Bottle Yard builds props to order, and furniture ranges come down from London’s houses, Superhire in Park Royal among them.
How much does costume hire cost in Bristol?
Bristol Costume Services quotes each hire rather than publishing a rate card. Its rates include cleaning, long TV and film hires get flexible rates, and costumes used as props are charged less (checked October 2026). Through us, it goes on the quote at cost, with the prep and returns days.
Can I use a replica gun on a shoot in Bristol?
Yes, if it’s declared. Bristol Film Office’s code of practice wants weapons, real or imitation, declared in the application, and asks productions to get police guidance before staging a crime, an accident or the use of firearms. An armourer supplies and looks after the weapon on set. Student shoots can’t use weapons on council land at all.
Can actors wear police uniform on a Bristol street?
Yes. Bristol Film Office’s code asks for police uniforms to be covered between takes, and for police guidance before any staged crime or accident. In Bath, the Film Office tells the police about every permit application.
Do picture cars pay Bristol’s Clean Air Zone charge?
Possibly. Bristol’s zone is Class D, so it charges cars as well as vans: £9 a day for a petrol car below Euro 4 or a diesel below Euro 6, midnight to midnight. A car parked in the zone that doesn’t move isn’t charged, and Bath’s zone doesn’t charge private cars at all. Checked October 2026; we check each vehicle before it’s booked.
Do you supply stylists and hair and make-up?
Yes. We book stylists, costume designers and hair and make-up artists from Bristol and Bath where we can, and from across the South West, Cardiff or London where the brief needs them, with travel on the quote. A stylist is £519–647 a day and hair and make-up £398, before our 10% booking fee and 2% insurance.
Around the crew
More for Bristol shoots
01
Kit rental
Kit houses in Clifton and at The Bottle Yard, the crew’s own kit, and what comes down from London.
02
Locations and permits
Bristol Film Office, Bath Film Office, the harbour, Clifton Suspension Bridge and the drone rules.
03
Studios and set builds
The Bottle Yard’s 11 stages, green screen and infinity coves across the city, and set builds.
