MUSICIAN and instrument repairer George Gladstone's business has gone from strength-to-strength since he opened his shop in Darlington.

He has even received a visit from influential company directors.

Mr Gladstone, 44, from South Shields, has been repairing musical instruments since he was 17, initially working as a freelance around the North-East.

But four years ago he decided to establish his own business, George Gladstone's, primarily as a repair shop, opposite Darlington's Civic Theatre, in Parkgate.

Having already established himself among musicians in the region as a freelance repairer, Mr Gladstone soon had a solid customer base for his repair business.

But as the business grew he decided to start selling instruments as well, specialising in wind instruments and electronic keyboards.

His decision to sell instruments has really paid off, because his shop is now among the top ten traders in Korg instruments in the UK.

The multinational company is one of the biggest keyboard producers in the world. With its sister company, Jupiter Instruments, it also manufactures wind instruments.

Mr Gladstone's success has led to a surprise visit from four Taiwanese company directors from Korg.

The directors spent several hours speaking to Mr Gladstone and his staff, company secretary Graham Honeywood and apprentice Gary Bridge, about what they thought of Korg's instruments.

The visit gave Mr Gladstone a chance to find out more about the company and identify the most common faults with the company's instruments.

Mr Gladstone said: "It was a bit of a surprise visit because we were only told they were turning up a few hours before they arrived.

"They chose to visit us as part of a tour of music shops in the UK, and as we are in the top-ten businesses for selling their products they wanted to meet us - which is quite a coup for us.

"I play wind instruments myself, so I know a lot about them, which has really helped the business.

"The Darlington area has a lot of musicians and therefore a big customer base, which is the secret of our success. Hopefully, we can continue to grow and become one of the top musical repair shops in the region.