If it's American then it's South American, or alternatively Australasian, as the lantern, column and bracket aren't typically North American. You see a lot of adverts on TV which seem to be filmed abroad. Maybe all the strict rules, procedures and red tape in this country make it easier and cheaper to film abroad. I'd imagine that some filming would require road closures, and knowing the British system, getting permission for a road closure would probably be like pulling out your own teeth, so they only close roads off in Britain where it is necessary for a British street scene to be used.

Barcelona seems to be used quite a lot for as a location for adverts. The better weather probably helps and like Paris, the main roads often have "service" roads running parallel for access to properties/deliveries. Using one of these for filming is obviously easier than a main thoroughfare.

The latest Halifax ad is clearly not filmed in the UK given the type of lighting in shot, the same for the current Nissan car ad with the "dancing" cars. I am fairly sure the former ad is indeed filmed in Barcelona.

Has anyone seen the digital TV switch over ads running before the BBC 6pm news in the BBC south region the last few days? We are one of the last areas to switch over. Anyway about halfway through, there is a 1960s housing estate with a green painted folded metal column with a 7 bracket and a large side entry SOX lantern possibly a GEC Z9480.

I'm assuming its a real street rather than CGI, has the same ad been used elsewhere in the UK?

Can't remember seeing it in the North West when we had our switchover back in 2010.

The latest next TV advert has this in the opening scene..

That installation looks suspiciously "Brighton and Hove"

Here's an oldie: this is a screenshot from an old VHS tape of some European installations from a mid-1990s advert for the Renault Megane. A couple of the lanterns look like gear-in-shoe MA50s but I've no idea what the rest of the lanterns are (they're probably also Philips installations). If anybody can identify them, I'd be most grateful!

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