Gallery 45 - Jane & Mary - 1

Hi, can you tell us about yourselves and what inspired you to set up your business?

Hi, we’re Mary and Jane, owners of Gallery 45. We’ve been friends for a very long time and live in Felton.  Felton is a lovely village to live in and there is a strong sense of community here – it’s a place where people look out for each other and it’s been a great place for our children to grow up.

We were both teachers and had come to a point in our careers where we decided that we would like a new challenge. We liked the idea of having our own business but weren’t sure what that business might be.  The village pub, The Stags Head, had been on the market for some time and seemed way too expensive but we had a look anyway. We fell in love with the place and on a whim put in a cheeky offer, which to our surprise was accepted! There followed a two month period of intense renovation work where we were working every day sometimes until midnight – this was hard physical labour, we’d never worked so hard in our lives!  We were supported fantastically by the local community, the renovation really was a community effort. Once the renovations were complete we had a celebration launch event with everyone that helped us transform the Stags Head into Gallery 45.

Gallery 45 is a creative space where local artists can exhibit and sell their works. Just before opening we were approached by Renira Barnes, who was interested in using Gallery 45 to set up a studio.  We hadn’t completed the full renovations of the property so we agreed with Renira that if she do the conversion works on her workshop she could use the space rent free. Other artists expressed interest in having studio space with us and so Gallery 45 developed into a creative space and enterprise hub that people could work from at a reasonable rent as well as exhibit and sell their work. In addition we dedicated one of the spaces to be a community room, that people could hire out.

Our plans for the business have constantly evolved as time has gone on – it’s been an exciting journey. We are now just over two years old and we still have many ideas as to how we will develop our business.

What tips would you give other women who are thinking about setting up their own business?

Don’t over analyse things – work hard, keep a handle on the budget and follow your dreams. Seek advice but if people tell you you can’t do something you don’t have to take their advice if you don’t feel it’s right for you – seek other people’s views but stay true to your vision and believe in yourselves.

We have had an enormous amount of support from the community, which has been fantastic and has helped make Gallery 45 a success – don’t be proud, if people offer you help then grasp it with both hands. We’ve had help with labour during the renovations and from donations of furniture and much more besides. People’s generosity has been amazing and humbling – it’s been wonderful to have the whole community involved in making Gallery 45 the special place that it is. Building a business in our own community has really been a great help for us.

Be patient – your business will take time to develop –  don’t worry if you don’t make money straight away.  We planned and budgeted for not making an income in the first couple of months at least.

We love Gallery 45, it’s a fantastic, welcoming place and has been the perfect venue for us to hold all of our Be Digital workshops. You have superfast broadband and offer free wifi to your business tenants and customers – what are the benefits of superfast broadband for your business?

We do a lot of our ordering for the gallery and gift shop over the internet, so having access to the internet is invaluable for our business.

As well as ourselves there are several other businesses working out of Gallery 45, which has evolved into an enterprise hub, so having a superfast broadband connection enables us all to work online at the same time.

We have our own website and use social media to promote the gallery and share all of our artists work and we have a busy events programme, which we can share with a much wider audience via the internet.

We offer free wifi to our resident creative businesses, to visiting customers and to people using our community spaces. The free wifi and superfast broadband has enabled us to grow and attract customers such as Be Digital, where access to the internet for over 20 people at the same time is essential for your training programme.

What are your future plans for Gallery 45?

We want to continue to diversity the business by maximising how we use our community spaces. We currently rent out the Long Room and Snug to all sorts of different groups, with people hiring the space to run Tribal Belly Dance on a Monday night, Choral Singing on a Tuesday and Yoga on a Thursday. We also rent the space out for a number of one off events and to customers like Be Digital for full day workshops.  Gallery 45 is located right in the middle of Northumberland but just off the A1, so it is easily accessible and a great location wherever you are coming from.  We have a great relationship with the Running Fox Cafe just down the road, who can help with the catering of workshops and events if needed.

We have just expanded the team, which allows us to take time away from the gallery for a rare day off or to attend events across the region.

We’ve made the most of free marketing opportunities such as via social media but we’ve decided to invest in some paid publicity.  We’ll be using some funds to work with tourism businesses in the area to promote the gallery. We’ll also be investing in new signage to the front of the building so we’re more visible to passing traffic.

As always, this will be a busy year and we’ve lots of exciting plans for continuing to develop Gallery 45.

Gallery 45 - Jane & Mary - 2

Name of interviewee: Mary Moore Mewett and Jane Mills

Business name: Gallery 45

Website: www.feltongallery45.co.uk

Facebook: www.facebook.com/feltongallery45

Twitter: twitter.com/feltongallery45

Business type: Art gallery, gift shop, community space & creative enterprise hub

Location: Felton, Northumberland