Fans of the popular BBC One show are keen to know where is The Great British Sewing Bee filmed?

Be it the Great British Bake Off, beloved BBC programme The Repair Shop or new show The Speedshop – we Brits love a show that puts people’s skills and talents to the test. And The Great British Sewing Bee is another creative offering that ticks the box and has earnt a large audience following since it first aired in 2013.

Now into it’s eighth series, viewers have welcomed the show back onto screens with a new host and fabulous filming location. We share all the need-to-know information to accompanying your viewing.

Where is The Great British Sewing Bee filmed?

Season 8 of The Great British Sewing Bee is filmed in Sunny Bank Mills, a famous woolen mill located just outside of Leeds. The show bid goodbye to it’s former London filming location in 2021, with last year’s Christmas special and the new 2022 series now recorded at the popular Yorkshire attraction.

Nicola Lee, founder of the School of Sew which is based at Sunny Bank Mills confirmed the Sewing Bee’s new filming location in an interview with the Yorkshire Evening Post. “It’s great it’s come up to Yorkshire – for any programme, not just the Sewing Bee,” she said. “We found out the week before we reopened and thought it was too good to be true.”

“The Mill needs showing off, it’s such a lovely building and a lovely place to work,” she added. “Historically, we do really well when the Sewing Bee is on. And it’s such a coincidence that it’s now being filmed here. We’ve even got a red brick wall like they have on the show!”

The Great British Sewing Bee judge Patrick Grant believes the new filming location is a clever tribute: “Leeds is at the heart of the wool and textile industry so it feels appropriate to film in a great big spinning mill,” he said.

Fans of the show are able to visit Sunny Bank Mills in real-life too. A gallery, shop and tearoom can be explored on the site which is open 6 days a week (closed Mondays). Keen sewers can also sign up to classes at School of Sew and live out their best Great British Sewing Bee dreams.

Where was The Great British Sewing Bee filmed before 2022?

The Great British Sewing Bee used to be filmed at The Chainstore on Trinity Buoy, London – which is located just off the River Thames and near the 02 Arena. Season 7 of the show was the last installment to be filmed here in 2021, before they moved to their new Leeds location.

Filming locations for The Great British Sewing Bee have changed over the years. In 2020, the sixth series was shot at a studio based in Bermondsey – which is historically considered the home of London’s textiles. Meanwhile, the 2019 series was recorded on Tanner Street, near London’s famous Tower Bridge. This is perhaps now best known as the filming location for fellow BBC show Dragon’s Den.

How long does it take to film The Great British Sewing Bee?

Contestants are asked to commit to 20 days of filming for the show – which takes place over a 6-8 week period. Show bosses are already looking for participants for the next series of The Great British Sewing Bee and have confirmed that filming will take place between August and November 2022.

Skilled sewers who think they have what it takes have until May 18 at 8pm to submit an application. Future contestants must be aged 16 and over and consider themselves an “amateur sewer”. This means no NVQ or other equivalent sewing-related qualifications. And you can’t have previously worked full-time as a “dressmaker, sample machinist, pattern cutter, tailor or seamstress at any time during the last 15 years.”

Be sure to read up on all the Sewing Bee rules before sending off your application.

Who is the new Great British Sewing Bee presenter?

Viewers of The Great British Sewing Bee have said goodbye to former host Joe Lycett and welcomed Sara Pascoe as the new presenter for season 8. The 40-year-old actress was announced as the new host on September 16, 2021. At the time Sara said it was “such an honour” to be taking over.

“I’m so inspired by creativity and skill and I am *deeply* in love with clothes so I can’t think of a happier place to be,” she said.

Sara also coincidentally appeared as a contestant on the 2020 Christmas celebrity special of the show. So it seems she is already familiar with the format and crew. Saville Row’s Patrick Grant and Esme Young of Central Saint Martins are both returning as judges this year.

Credit: BBC

It seems that Sara is already a hit with viewers, who took to Twitter to critique her presenting performance.

“@sarapascoe is a magnificent addition – difficult to follow @joelycett but she’s great,” wrote one user. Whilst another tweeted: “Well done #SaraPascoe. I thought @joelycett was going to be a hard act to follow but she’s brilliant.”

Joe Lycett presented the show’s fifth, sixth and seventh series. He took over as host from Claudia Winkleman who headed up the first four seasons of the popular show.

The Great British Sewing Bee continues Wednesdays at 8pm on BBC One. And you can catch up on all episodes now via BBC iPlayer.

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