Film crews spotted at Bootham Park in York

Trucks belonging to Facilities by ADF, which provides vehicle hire for TV and film productions for the likes of HBO Max, Apple, Netflix, Marvel, NBC Universal, Disney + and Amazon have been spotted parked up outside the former Bootham Park Hospital over the weekend.

The nature of the filming is not yet known, but a large part of nearby Union Terrace car park has also been given over to film lorries and catering trucks.

Bootham Park is currently derelict and there are plans to convert York’s former psychiatric hospital into a 170-home retirement complex by retirement community developer Enterprise Retirement Living (ERL).

Bootham Park is one of York's finest Georgian buildings, Grade 1 listed, it was designed by John Carr and built by public subscription, as the York Lunatic Asylum, between 1774 and 1777.

Among the benefactors who gave money to support the hospital in the later 1800s were both Joseph Rowntree and George Hudson.

The hospital became part of the NHS in 1948, when the facilities were upgraded. But in September 2015 it was declared unfit by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and was suddenly closed. Repairs and changes required to make the hospital safer had not been carried out to the CQC's satisfaction.

The now empty building is home to some stunning architectural features inside and out.

Bootham Park rec room. Picture: Dr Bob Adams

Retired consultant psychiatrist Dr Bob Adams, worked at the hospital from 1990 to 2014, and in 2013, before he knew that the hospital would suddenly close a couple of years later, took a series of photographs of the inside of the building which show why it might be prized as a film set.

Venetian glass windows inside the hospital Picture: Dr Bob Adams