Panto: The industrial estate hiding the secrets of a British tradition

While many of us have spent the summer trying to keep cool in record temperatures, a smaller band of people have been focused on the festive season and getting ready to continue a British tradition. Did BBC News' Simon Spark take a trip to one of the world's biggest panto suppliers? Oh yes he did.

In a nondescript green and white corrugated unit on an industrial estate in East Yorkshire, only a small sign gives a hint to what is hiding inside.

Ring the doorbell of Crossroads Pantomimes and the sound of a very loud comedy car horn goes off and from then on, you know you're about to step into an altogether different world.

At first, the home of one of the world's biggest pantomime producers is like a big DIY store, only twice the size.

There's nothing immediately obvious at this storage unit in Beverley, but your eyes have to adjust their expectation of what they're about to see.

Amidst the subtle smell of just-sawn wood and freshly applied paint, there is the sight of a huge giant in a protective polythene bag and the veil gently starts to lift.

There's Wendy, putting mud on the wheels of a limousine under construction, and there's Steve, re-painting the roof of a cottage from Jack and the Beanstalk in pastel pink and yellow.

On scaffolding the width of a cinema screen, Peter is about to check the condition of a backdrop that has just been returned, by lifting it gracefully into the air and checking for holes.

"See where the conduit bar has torn this bit here, if we catch them when they're small we can keep on top of them," he explains.

"They just need careful handling, but not everyone understands that".

Annabelle White, production operations manager and head of the hire department, knows where everything is and that is quite some task when we look upon a whole wall dedicated to backing cloths for different productions.

We come across cauldrons, broomsticks and giant tins of baked beans. Looking at the stacks and stacks of wooden scenery she says: "You can tell which ones are Cinderella by the pink on the edges."

They don't just store pantomime items here, they repair and create them. They store all the lighting, sound, even microwaves for backstage meals.

They load huge, wheeled storage units for specific performance props such as pumpkins and flowers and will continue to adjust the load as scripts develop through the year.

Even though this unit is massive it is just one of four on this Beverley industrial estate.

As we enter the second unit, there are Cinderella carriages lined up; there's a unicorn, crocodile and a full-size elephant.

For panto season, Crossroads will load more than 120 articulated wagons full of scenery, props, costumes, rehearsal kits and send them out all over the country wherever a pantomime is about to start.

As for the costumes, they have more than 200,000 of them, stored at a different site.

When my visit finally comes to an open-mouthed end, Annabelle says: "Now, I just need to see a man about a dagger."

Where else would you hear that?

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