An actor renowned for his "hard man" image and London gangster roles looked at home filming on the more genteel streets of a south Wales market town.

Ray Winstone, recently seen in Guy Ritchie's The Gentlemen, as well as star of The Departed and Sexy Beast, was spotted in Cowbridge in the Vale of Glamorgan, filming the six-part action-comedy Danger Money.

Winstone leads the cast as Alan "Razor" Sharp, an ex-SAS operative, with Cowbridge portraying a town in England.

"It created a real buzz," said Nadine Price, supervisor at Ground coffee shop on High Street, one of the filming locations.

Price said there was "real excitement" in the town, with Winstone spending time joking with residents.

The Welsh flag was taken down from the town hall for the filming, with Price saying Cowbridge would be depicted as a town in Herefordshire.

Winstone, 69, who was born in east London and is famous for his Cockney accent, walked the high street of Cowbridge wearing military medals and a flat cap in character as Sharp.

Winstone previously said his character was "a bit of a scrapper, surly and getting on a bit".

"I told them it doesn't ring any bells, but I like a challenge," he joked.

Molly Ridge, a stylist at Minnie May Closet, was about to film a promotional Instagram reel for the shop when she noticed the filming outside.

"I had one of our dresses on so I ran up to him and asked him for a selfie and he said 'yes of course babes, that's fine babes'. He was just really sweet.

"He said the dress looked gorgeous and I thought he could have been a bit off as he was just about to start filming but he wasn't."

She described Winstone as a "lovely man" who was "exactly the same in character as in real life with his proper gruff East End accent".

Anna Groom also works at the shop and asked for an autograph.

"He signed it to the 'Lovely Anna' which I thought was sweet and he came across like a really nice guy," she said.

Gary Simms, a Cowbridge local, also had a picture with the actor when he saw him in the Bear Hotel on Sunday evening, the night before filming.

"What a nice guy. We were watching [the] Liverpool-Man City game and we had a great chat about football, and he was wearing his West Ham joggers.

"It was surreal to see him in the pub as I'd just finished watching season two of The Gentlemen."

Winstone also recently appeared on Strictly Come Dancing, where his daughter, Jaime, is a contestant, sending a video message of support after she was in the dance off.