MBE Ealing, Hugh Grant and The Gentlemen movie
Location, location - It’s not every day your store features
in a Guy Ritchie movie
The London
borough of Ealing, once dubbed ‘queen of suburbs’, has been the backdrop to
many films and TV shows – mainly thanks to the prolific Ealing Studios, which
opened in 1902.
When Guy
Ritchie wanted to film a London-themed gangster movie, The Gentlemen, last
year, he selected the iconic studios as his base. Many of the scenes were shot on location in
the area, and when one of the characters needed to be shown using a mailbox,
Guy didn’t have far to look.
Yet despite
his proximity to the oldest continuously working film production studio in the
world, MBE franchisee Nick Bath was surprised when a location management
company contacted him to ask if they could film some scenes in his store, which
is close to Ealing Broadway.
“They needed
to show one of the characters depositing something in a mailbox, so we were the
natural choice,” explains Nick.
“However, in the end they decided to shoot just the exterior of the
store – but it was still a huge privilege to be a small part of the
movie.”
When the
film opened in cinemas on 1 January, several of Nick’s customers were quick to
spot the shots that included MBE Ealing:
“They popped in to say how pleased they were to see our store feature in
a very good film, and how proud it made them feel to be our customers,” says
Nick.
Up for a challenge
While
hosting a location shoot was not on his agenda when he set up the business in
2012, Nick was definitely up for a new challenge, having worked as a DHL
service partner for several years. “I
wanted to continue working for myself, and I already had experience of the
courier side of things, so a franchise with Mail Boxes Etc. was a natural
choice,” he says. “There wasn’t an MBE
anywhere in Ealing, and it’s quite close to where I live, so it seemed like a
great opportunity. The head office team
really helped me get the business off the ground, with setup assistance and
training, and we haven’t looked back.”
Nick, who is
sometimes helped by his partner and son in the store, offers the full range of
MBE services. With mailbox rental,
shipping and post representing much of his turnover, his print services are
also popular with customers. “We have a
good split between residential and business customers, and we also see a lot of
students who need their dissertations printing and binding.” Looking to the future, Nick says he may open
a second MBE store in west London, although he realises that being the backdrop
to scenes in a major film is probably a one-off experience!