Psyche, the designer department store in Middlesbrough, has recently been named best new store in Britain. Managing director Steve Cochrane talks to Women's Editor Lindsay Jennings about plans to roll the brand out across the country.

STEVE Cochrane is a busy man. He's busy with his plans to create a £2m rooftop restaurant and pavement caf at his designer department store, Psyche. He's also in talks with merchant banker SKG Equity Finance - the same backer who helped finance Philip Green's purchase of British Home Stores - to roll the Psyche brand out across the country. All this, and there's a BBC crew which has been following him around for months for a documentary on the Teesside entrepreneur.

"I'm sorry I've kept you waiting so long," he smiles apologetically, pulling up a chair in Psyche's downstairs cafe. "We're mega busy at the moment."

These are exciting times for Steve and his staff. Psyche was recently named Best New Store in the 2004 Drapers Awards, as well as clinching the Retailer of the Year award, ahead of the likes of Harvey Nichols.

Steve's vision for Psyche, he says, began when he wanted to find some decent punk clothing in the 1980s.

"I was singing with a few punk bands - although we weren't very good," he laughs. "We always had to travel to London to get anything a bit different so I decided to open a punk clothing shop. It was great fun."

Steve gave up his work as an engineer on the oil rigs to open punk clothing store Sliced Tomatoes in Redcar, in 1982. Three years later, he expanded into designer men's and women's clothing and opened Psyche, on Middlesbrough's Linthorpe Road.

When the art deco building further along Linthorpe Road, formerly home to Uptons, came up, he jumped at the chance to find a new home for Psyche and develop a designer department store.

"It cost £53,000 just to get rid of the asbestos and the lift didn't work," says Steve, 45, of Yarm. "But it's a great building. It underwent a £2.7m revamp and we opened on April 19, 2003."

Psyche is now home to designer men's, women's and children's clothing, an art gallery, caf, hairdressers, dental cosmetics, record store, and interiors.

It is the fourth and top floor which is scheduled for a £2m transformation into a 350-plus seater glass rooftop restaurant. Residents are being consulted on the plans to pedestrianise half of Garnet Street next to the store to make room for a huge glass lift and pavement caf.

"It's going to be continental contemporary - but not over the top price wise," he stresses. "It has to reflect the contemporary image of Psyche. I want it to be cutting edge and very funky without alienating anyone."

He's also excited about the talks with SKG. He favours the large, industrial working class towns and cities, such as Doncaster and Bradford, to see Psyche rolled out nationally, rather than the established shopping Meccas of Leeds and Manchester.

Psyche is not a refuge for the rich, he says - a brickie is just as likely to pop in and buy a new designer T-shirt for a Saturday night out.

"I'm anti-exclusivity," he adds.

He also admits to being a tad obsessive, particularly where work is concerned, and that he "bugs his staff" because he wants everything to be just right. But it seems to have paid off.

"I just want do everything to the nth degree," he says.