Member Article

Ingram AV sees the light and returns to Hoults Yard

A SUCCESSFUL audio visual company has returned to its former base after outgrowing its previous premises.

Ingram AV provides a huge range of professional audio-visual equipment for hire as well as a full technical event production service and were based in Hoults Yard until six years ago. Owner Reed Ingram Weir was keen to return to Newcastle’s ‘Business Village’ and kept in touch with owner Charlie Hoult, regularly checking to see if the right-sized premises was available.

Reed explained: “We were based at Hoults Yard for three years but left as we needed a larger warehouse and there was nothing available at the time that suited our requirements. We have always kept a close relationship with Hoults, helping on many events held at Warehouse 34 and The Clayshed.

“It feels great to be back on the Yard and after six years away, the sense of community has grown even stronger and the services that Hoults offer would be hard to be beaten anywhere else.

“One huge bonus is our new neighbours, Proven Goods, are an artisan doughnut shop and when we open up in the morning we are presented with the beautiful aroma of freshly baked doughnuts.”

Reed was born and brought up in Buxton, Derbyshire, and arrived in the region when he came to study at Newcastle University. It was while still a student that Reed set up an audio visual (AV) business at the time named Ingram Sounds.

“I was living in a student house in Gosforth with the AV equipment I hired out in the shared living area. I had a van and I hired PA systems out to local venues and events. After then I moved into a larger shared apartment in Jesmond, where I also kept the equipment. I then hired space at the old Tyne Tees offices in City Road.

“The business really expanded while I was at City Road and I realised we needed to move again. I Googled office space and found Hoults Yard right next to where we were! We moved in very quickly.

“At the same time I was acting as a touring sound engineer for groups and musicians such as The Unthanks and Scottish singer Karine Polwart.”

In 2015, Reed decided to stop touring and concentrate on building a business in the north east, rebranding Ingram Sounds to Ingram AV and introducing another brand name, Festoon Lighting which caters for bespoke lighting to the wedding and events sector.

Ingram AV is now a valuable resource to many local theatres, venues, and other AV companies offering equipment not available anywhere else in the region. He has two full-time members of staff and an army of freelancers he regularly calls upon.

“We now offer a full production service: audio visual hire and production, lighting, projection, audio, stage, set, specialist microphone and AV equipment sales. Through Festoon Lighting we also offer specialist, bespoke wedding and event lighting.

“In moving back to the yard into bigger, 3,000sq ft premises we can offer even more products and services, and we’ll be hosting training events here for some of the equipment brands we promote.”

Ingram AV clients include the Durham Book Festival and other literary events; almost every Newcastle theatre and theatrical venues further afield, Durham Cathedral and most of the region’s leading events companies.

Last year was the company’s most successful and busiest to date, and Reed is looking forward to even greater success in 2019.

“We have a reputation for excellence and attention to detail, and we’re also known for our high production values and our fresh ideas on how to liven events and productions. I’m particularly proud of our environmental approach to what we do.

“100 percent of the electricity we purchase comes from energy sources like solar, hydro and wind power. Our investment in fully electric vehicles has enabled 80 percent of our delivery miles, site visits and surveys to be carried out with zero emissions.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Hoults Yard .