A NEW business which aims to be a creative hub is set to open later this year.

Called ‘The Emporium’, it is the product of an idea from two creative minds, Clare Queen-Shaw and Natalie Faunch.

Natalie works self-employed, owning Ethereal Scents, and Claire owns the Queen of Paws dog grooming salon next door to where The Emporium will be – Atlas Works in Denton Holme, Carlisle.

Natalie and Clare explained that the idea to start this business came from an initial need for more space.

Natalie needs the space to build her workshop, and Clare needs the extra space for her dog grooming business.

Likeminded people, they had the idea to create a creative hub that anyone can use.

The hub, they said, could be used for a variety of things, such as meet-ups for clubs and societies, workshops, live music, art exhibitions, pop-up shops, and anything in between.

Natalie said: “We’re looking to get together with other makers to offer them affordable long-term spaces because a lot of these people work on their own.”

Clare put forward what she wanted to use the space for.

She said she wanted to do 'breed meetups', where owners of a particular dog breed meet up together and get to know one another, as well as ask questions they may have.

Clare added: “It’s a creative business hub where people feel comfortable to be themselves.

“It’s nice because everyone we’ve told has come back with their own little ideas.”

Charges vary depending on the use, they said, but they added: “We are going to make it so there are different price ranges.

“At the moment we’re still collecting furniture so we don’t have one set up yet, but we wanted to be affordable from the start.”

On when they imagine it opening to the public, a vague date of autumn has been set, but either September or October.

It’s difficult to say when everything will be ready as it’s still early days, but the wheels are in motion for what Natalie described as the Afflecks Palace of Denton Holme, but as we can describe as its next creative business hub.

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