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Bath gets bypassed for photography studio hire. Most photographers with a brief in the south-west default to Bristol without looking — and most of the time they're probably right. The Bristol studio scene is deeper and more established, with a range of spec options across BS1, BS2 and BS3 that Bath simply can't match for breadth.

But it's a 30-minute drive between the two cities, and there are specific circumstances where Bath makes more sense. I've spent the past year trying to work out when those circumstances are — and whether the Bath studio scene is worth taking seriously on its own terms.

Here's what I've found.

What actually exists in Bath

Bath has fewer dedicated photography studios than a city of its size and cultural profile might suggest. Part of the reason is space: central Bath is densely Georgian, with building stock that doesn't easily convert to high-ceiling, high-power studio use. The warehouse or industrial-unit studios that define the better-value end of the UK studio market don't exist in the same way within the city boundaries.

What does exist: a handful of converted spaces — former retail units, basement studios, and workshop-to-studio conversions — typically in the BA1 and BA2 postcodes. Ceiling heights tend to be lower than equivalent Bristol spaces: 2.5–3.2m is common. Floor areas run small to medium, typically 40–120sqm. Power is usually on domestic or light commercial rings — 32A is available in some spaces, three-phase is rare within central Bath.

There are also a number of hybrid spaces — creative workspaces that include a photography studio among other facilities — particularly around the Bear Flat and Southgate areas. These can be good for portrait, product, or editorial work where you don't need a large floor or specialist power. They tend to have good natural light, which Bath does well — the stone and glass combination in many converted spaces produces a warm, soft quality that's genuinely hard to replicate artificially.

North Somerset: the underexplored option

The more interesting option for larger or more technically demanding briefs is the area between Bath and Bristol — the north Somerset corridor through Keynsham, Saltford and the Bristol fringe.

This stretch has benefited from Bristol's studio boom without inheriting Bristol's premium pricing. Converted industrial units in Keynsham and the rural fringe of north Somerset have opened as photography and production spaces in the past three or four years, typically with more floor area, better power infrastructure, and lower daily rates than comparable Bristol studios.

Access is straightforward — the A4 and A39 routes keep you within 40 minutes of central Bristol, and Bath Spa station is 20 minutes for any clients arriving by train. For production crews travelling from London on the M4, the junction 18 approach also keeps you off the centre of Bath entirely.

What to realistically expect on a Bath studio booking

If you're booking a studio actually within Bath city, expect: 40–100sqm of usable floor area, 2.5–3.2m ceiling clearance, daylight from good windows but limited blackout, and power on a 13A or 16A domestic ring with possibly one 32A outlet. Rates run £25–45/hr, half-day from £120, full day from £220.

For those specs and that rate, Bath studios are genuinely useful for portrait, editorial headshot, and product work that doesn't need specialist power or large floor area. The light quality in the better converted spaces is real — warm stone walls and generous window apertures give you a quality of reflected and ambient light that more purpose-built London spaces don't easily replicate.

What Bath studios aren't appropriate for: car photography (ceiling too low, floor too small), music video production (no 3-phase), large group sessions needing more than 80sqm of clear floor, or any brief that requires full blackout capability.

When Bath makes more sense than Bristol

There are four scenarios where I'd book Bath over Bristol:

The client is based in Bath. For corporate portrait or brand work with clients at the University of Bath or among the city's professional services firms, a central Bath studio is a significantly easier sell than asking them to drive to BS3. Client comfort matters to client output.

The brief specifically calls for Bath as a location. Heritage brands, lifestyle content that references the Georgian cityscape, anything where the surroundings are part of the visual narrative. Bath's stone and architecture are a usable backdrop in ways that most Bristol studio locations aren't.

You need the daylight and the space doesn't need to be large. A north-facing converted room in BA1 with generous windows is a surprisingly competitive option for natural-light portrait work.

You're doing editorial or food photography where the ambient setting contributes. Some of the Bath creative workspace studios have a warmth and texture that works brilliantly for this kind of content — stone walls, natural light, an aesthetic that reads as "south-west Britain" in ways that a white-walled Bristol studio doesn't.

Rates: Bath vs Bristol comparison

Bath studios: £25–45/hr, half-day £120–180, full day £220–350.

Bristol equivalent-spec studios (BS1–3): £30–50/hr, half-day £140–220, full day £270–420.

The Bath discount is real but modest — roughly 10–20% versus Bristol for comparable accessible space. The trade-off is spec: Bath studios rarely match the ceiling height, floor area or power supply of Bristol's better commercial studios.

Booking approach

Bath's studio market is mostly direct-booking. Peerspace inventory for Bath is thin — I've found fewer than five spaces with any real commercial photography use on the platform in 2026. Giggster's UK coverage in Bath is similarly sparse.

The better approach is direct contact with creative workspace operators in the city. Bath has several multi-tenant creative hubs that include photography spaces — the kind of setup where a design studio, a furniture maker, and a photographer's studio all share a converted Victorian building. These won't always appear in directory searches; looking for creative hubs or artist studios in BA1 and BA2 and calling to ask about photography space availability is more productive than platform searches.

For the Bristol end of the south-west, creativestudiohire.com has more complete coverage — the Bath scene is thin enough that the best option is often calling ahead rather than filtering a directory.

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