However, he certainly does not view it that way.

“I think, for the size of the city, it’s a great facility,” Ashton declared.

“The PA and sound and lighting rig are all pretty top notch and a lot of artists have commented on that and how pleasantly surprised they have been by the facilities on offer, right from the moment they arrive. Everything is set up to make their stay as comfortable as possible and they really appreciate that. The tech crew are great. Staff-wise it’s a really good group of people.”

Just a few weeks into the job, Ashton has yet to have many Ironworks’ shows under his belt as manager, but one star he knows first hand who does appreciate the venue is Scottish singer Amy Macdonald, who played a sell-out show just days after he took up his post.

“Amy said it was the best reception she’d had from an audience,” he said.

Ashton, who was a floor manager with BBC shows such as “A Question of Sport” before moving into the live entertainment industry, was aware of The Ironworks before moving to Nairnshire 18 months ago. With live music one of his passions, he took an interest in what facilities were available in the area and heard about the construction of The Ironworks even before it opened.

On a personal note, the half-hour drive from home to work certainly beats his cross-border commute to Liverpool when he started work at the Echo Arena, having previously been sales manager at the Manchester GMEX.

“I did it for just over a year, but you can’t really do that for long,” Ashton said.

At first it was an easy enough commute when Ryanair offered direct flights from Inverness to Liverpool, but things became more awkward when the service was withdrawn and he had to make the journey by road.

“It’s 380 miles from where I live to Liverpool. The quickest I ever did it was five and a half hours, the slowest was seven-and-a-half to eight. I set off at 3.45 am and got in to the office at 11.30am.”

Gruelling though it was, Ashton said he was happy to have had the experience, which included an opening show which not only marked the opening of the new venue, but the launch of Liverpool’s tenure as European Capital of Culture, with former Beatle Ringo Starr among the performers.

“It’s not often you have the chance to get involved with an arena of that size and it’s right on the Albert Dock, a fantastic location,” Ashton said.

“And because it was just opening you could put your mark on it and promote it as brand new. Liverpool had never had a venue that size before.”

The Ironworks may never hope to catch an arena-filling act, but Ashton hopes it will regularly feature up and coming bands whose career is progressing towards those arena-filling gigs.

“Even a band like Coldplay was playing venues this size at the start of their career,” he pointed out.

Ashton wants it to be almost a given that acts touring Scotland will include an Inverness show.

“In two years’ time I’d like to celebrate our fifth birthday with a really good venue programme of upcoming and established bands,” Ashton said.

“What we’d like to do is provide a home for the bands that have maybe appeared elsewhere when up and coming and attracting audiences of 300. The next step up for them is a venue of 900 to 1000.”

However, Ashton will not neglect older music fans and shows like the Rat Pack Live tribute, scheduled for Sunday, 30th March, will continue to be an element of The Ironworks programme, as will its Melting Pot comedy nights.

“We are trying to appeal to as broad a range of people as we can, not just the younger audience,” he said.

Paul Ashton is impressed by the quality of facilities on offer at The Ironworks. Alasdair Allen

He is also keen to develop the venue’s involvement with the wider community, whether that be offering a platform to local bands or working with the local college to offer students first-hand experience of the technical aspects of running a live venue.

Meanwhile, he also wants to explore the potential of using The Ironworks for conferences and exhibitions. Ashton, whose own musical tastes run from punk bands like The Damned (who have played The Ironworks), reggae, ’70s and ’80s acts like Roxy Music, Pink Floyd and The Cure and more up to date bands such as Athlete and Air, certainly hopes to make use of his industry contacts in the south to bring new talent to Inverness.

Aside from the facilities on offer at The Ironworks, he believes the city itself has plenty of attractions to entice acts north.

“What we need to impress upon people is that we are in the Highlands and all the wonderful activities and sights they can do and see. If their schedule’s not too tight they can do things like visit Loch Ness or go on a dolphin cruise,” he said.

And as someone who almost randomly decided on a move to the Highlands, Ashton does appreciate what the Highlands have to offer.

“I’m really glad we’ve done it,” he said. “My wife’s family are from Glasgow, but really that was the only Scottish link. It’s not as if we’d even holidayed here. When I look back at it like that, it was an unusual thing to do, but why not? The area we came from in Cheshire was fairly rural, but quite congested because it was basically a commuter town for Manchester and we wanted a different lifestyle. We had friends who had been here, but we just drove up one day and thought, 'this is lovely’.”

Though it takes time for any new venue to establish itself, Ashton is positive that The Ironworks has put its name, and Inverness, on the live music map.

“I think that within a short time The Ironworks has become very well known,” he said. “Everyone I’ve spoken to is nothing but positive about it.”

Promoters and acts are also aware of The Ironworks and, increasingly, promoters are booking it for their shows, lessening the financial risk for the venue.

“In larger venues and arenas, promoters will hire the venue, whereas venues this size do quite a lot of self-promotion, where you are obviously taking a bit of a risk there,” Ashton explained.

He has also discovered how far people will travel to come to The Ironworks after chatting to fans at Amy Macdonald’s show who had come from as far away as Thurso.

“I think we have got quite a wide catchment area,” he said.

“The Inverness area is, what, 60,000? But if you take the wider area that probably increases to something like 150,000 to 160,000, if you include Forres, Nairn, Grantown and Aviemore and go out to the north and west.”

What would be a massive help to the future of The Ironworks, Ashton suggested, would be the establishment of a student campus.

“If that does happen, that would be great news for everybody, not just us. Shops, restaurants, pubs, taxis and so on would all benefit.

“The economic impact a student population can bring is well documented. You only have to look at Manchester,” he pointed out.

The growth of housing developments in the Inverness and Nairn areas, such as the planned new town at Tornagrain, is also a source of potential clientele, and Ashton noted there will be teenagers and young adults there who would also like to go to see live music.

“It’s something that Inverness has been crying out for,” he said. “And it’s great that the folk who set it up had the drive and persistence to build something like this.”

c.macleod@inverness-courier.co.uk

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