DIRECTORS of a York prop hire firm say they have fulfilled a dream of many years after opening a new office and showroom in London.

Event Prop Hire, which last year celebrated its tenth anniversary, has expanded out of Yorkshire into the capital to meed demand from southern customers.

The business, which employs a team of 50 people, has built up an offering of 10,000 props from its head office in Sutton on the Forest, and warehouse facility at Thorp Arch, near Wetherby.

Managing director Rosie Ellis said: "It’s always great to be able to show off our stock in person, and visitors to our Thorp Arch warehouse are always completely blown away, both by the sheer volume of our stock and by the variety and creativity we can offer.

"However, a significant portion of our customers co-ordinate events in and around London and so for them, visiting our warehouse isn’t always practical.

"So, in order to be able to offer that full sensory experience to our southern based customers, we have created a place where they can see what we offer, where we can showcase ideas in the flesh and where they can meet with us in a creative space.”

The showroom in London has been designed as a walk-through experience, with visitors guided through areas themed as the 1920’s, an American Diner, the Seaside and Alice in Wonderland, amongst others, while the office area has been themed as homage to the company’s Yorkshire roots, complete with dry stone walls and stile, whilst the meeting room is a pub; ‘The Propmakers Arms'.

Employing people across of range of skills sets including sculptors, carpenters, painters, printer and fabric technicians, designers, drivers, and install crew, Event Prop Hire manufactures its own props at its production facility in Sutton on the Forest.

The firm has invested in production equipment, including; 3D scanners, 4-axis CNC milling machine capable of cutting foam or polystyrene to any shape, a 3-axis CNC machine with the capacity to cut anything from 1mm foamex through to 5mm steel, and a plastic hardcoating machine providing a coating that is stronger than fibreglass.