Composite Gates Somerset & Bristol

We survey, manufacture and fit composite and metal gates across Somerset and the Bristol area — Bristol and Bath, the coast at Weston-super-Mare and Portishead, down through Bridgwater and Taunton to Yeovil, and east to Frome and Warminster. Every gate is measured on site, made to those measurements, and installed by the same people who quoted it.

Coverage moves. We are always reviewing how the installers on our network are performing and taking on new ones as demand grows, so the towns below are where we work most consistently rather than a complete or permanent list.

Towns and cities we cover

The surrounding villages and suburbs of each are covered too. If your town is not named, send your postcode and we will confirm.

Somerset & Bristol

• Bristol
• Bath
• Weston-super-Mare
• Portishead
• Taunton
• Bridgwater
• Yeovil
• Frome
• Midsomer Norton
• Warminster

Also covered: Clevedon, Nailsea, Keynsham, Radstock, Burnham-on-Sea, Wells, Glastonbury, Street, Shepton Mallet, Wincanton, Chard, Crewkerne, Ilminster, Wellington and Minehead.

What we make and fit

• Composite driveway gates Double and single leaf, hung or sliding, manual or automated.
• Composite garden gates Side gates, back gates and matching pedestrian gates.
• Metal gates Steel and metal-framed gates, made to measure.
• Electric gates Automation on new gates, or retro-fitted to existing ones.
• Composite fencing Matching fence panels and screens to tie the boundary together.

What Somerset asks of a gate

On the Levels, the boundary is often water

The Somerset Levels are drained rather than naturally dry, and the field and property boundaries there are frequently rhynes — the water-filled ditches that do the draining — rather than walls or fences. That changes two things about a gate. The access to a good many properties crosses a rhyne on a culvert or a small bridge, so the gate has to sit on ground either side of it rather than over it, and the usable opening is set by the crossing rather than by the drive. The other is what is underneath. Much of the Levels is peat, and peat shrinks as it dries and settles unevenly as a result. A post foundation that would be more than adequate on clay can move over a few summers there, and the first sign is a gate that gradually stops meeting in the middle. If you are on the Levels, say so at survey.

Bath is a World Heritage Site, and that is not the same as a conservation area

Worth being precise, because the two get confused. The whole city of Bath is inscribed as a World Heritage Site — not a district of it, the city — and Bath and North East Somerset Council applies policy accordingly, on top of the conservation areas and the very large number of listed buildings within it. In practice that means what a gate looks like from the street carries more weight here than almost anywhere else we work, and consent is a normal part of the process rather than an occasional complication. The stone matters too: Bath stone is a soft oolitic limestone, considerably softer than the sandstones further north, and it does not take a fixing the way brick does. Both points are cheap to design around and expensive to discover afterwards.

The Bristol Channel has the second-highest tidal range in the world

It is a genuinely unusual piece of coast and it behaves unlike the open sea. At Weston-super-Mare, Burnham and along to Portishead the water goes out a very long way and comes back fast, and what the wind carries off those flats is as much silt as salt. The practical consequences are small but real: a fully boarded gate on an exposed frontage there collects a film that wants washing off rather than leaving, and the moving parts pick up grit in a way they do not a few miles inland. It is not a reason to specify differently from any other coastal frontage — the coastal grade of finish and fixings covers it — but it is a reason not to treat a Weston seafront plot as though it were Taunton.

What affects the cost

Gate prices move on a handful of variables rather than a fixed rate. The main ones are:

FAQs about Composite Gates in Somerset and Bristol

I am on the Levels. Does the ground matter?

It can, and it is worth saying at survey. Much of the Levels is peat, which shrinks as it dries and settles unevenly, so a post foundation that is more than adequate on clay can move over a few summers. The symptom is a gate that slowly stops meeting in the middle. Knowing beforehand changes how the posts are set, and allowing for it costs a fraction of correcting it.

My drive crosses a rhyne. Can I still have a gate?

Yes, but the crossing usually sets the opening rather than the drive does. The gate needs solid ground either side of the culvert or bridge to hang from, and that is often narrower than the drive itself. It is a normal arrangement here and entirely workable — it just needs measuring on site rather than assuming the drive width is the gate width.

Do I need permission for a gate in Bath?

Quite possibly. The whole city is a World Heritage Site, there are extensive conservation areas within it and a great many listed buildings, so what a gate looks like from the street carries more weight than almost anywhere. Bath and North East Somerset Council is the authority. A conversation before you order is worth more than any search.

Can you fix a gate to a Bath stone wall?

Usually, but it is checked first. Bath stone is a soft oolitic limestone and does not hold a fixing the way brick does, particularly at a weathered face. Where there is sound stone behind we fix into that; where there is not, a post set alongside is a far better answer than a bolt into something that will not hold it — and on a listed wall it is often the only acceptable one.

Which parts of Somerset do you cover?

Bristol, Bath, Weston-super-Mare, Portishead, Taunton, Bridgwater, Yeovil, Frome, Midsomer Norton and Warminster all have their own pages, and Clevedon, Nailsea, Keynsham, Wells, Glastonbury, Street, Shepton Mallet, Chard, Crewkerne, Wellington and Minehead are covered too. Send your postcode and you will get a straight answer either way.

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