A new music shop with an upstairs “live lounge” is coming to Newport.
Turtle Music is expected to open on St Mary Street in September.
Husband and wife team Andy and Ellie Turner have taken over the former Kwik Print premises – and they have big plans.
On the ground floor there will be a shop stocking a wide range of musical equipment including guitars, drums, amps, keyboards and woodwind instruments.
And upstairs there will be a space for music lessons.
It will also be a place for musicians to pop in and perform acoustically.
“The live lounge will be a bit like Costa Coffee or Starbucks,” said Mr Turner.
“People will be able to come in and perform when there aren’t lessons on.
“The volume will be purely acoustic level so it should be okay with the neighbours.”
Mr Turner has wide and varied experience in music.
He has run a successful music production company in Wolverhampton for 15 years and has a degree in music.
He has also directed musicals in Birmingham including Les Misérables and Beauty and the Beast and is the lead guitarist in country rock band Arizona Storm.
Mr Turner said Turtle Music would cater for all musicians. He said: “We don’t want to alienate anyone. We want to cater for every age and genre from classical to blues and rock.
“That’s unusual for music stores. We plan to have different zones for different styles.”
There will also be a ‘terrapin’ zone for children to try new instruments and an instrument repair service.
Mr Thurner added: “We were thinking of opening a shop in Wolverhampton but then a friend suggested we have a look at Newport.
“It just felt right. There is no other music shop in the town so at the moment people have to travel to Telford, Shrewsbury or Wolverhampton.
“We like the feel of Newport and we want to give something back to the community.”
The shop will be open from 9am to 9pm.
Mr and Mrs Turner will be running the downstairs shop on a day-to-day basis - but they are keen to hear from music teachers who would be interested in taking lessons.
They plan to start the lessons from a different location in Newport as soon as possible.
Contact the pair via the website, www.turtle-music.co.uk
By Sean Wozencroft