Big name musicians will be a regular fixture at Harpenden Public Halls from now on says the new general manager.

The 400-seater venue was bereft of a guiding hand for much of last year, but former music promoter Glenn Povey has now taken up the challenge.

The 47-year-old from Bovingdon says: “There hasn’t been a general manager here for months. The last person left in May.

“I have spent the last few weeks getting my feet under the table and sorting out some problems the venue has had. Now we have just released our new brochure.“ He is “chuffed “ to have lined up punk poet John Cooper Clarke, singer-songwriter Thea Gilmore and I Am Kloot frontman John Bramwell to play there later this year and says: “With my background in live music, I want to bring a bit more of that and hopefully some bigger names into the area.

“It’s time to give it a shake-up and do things like freshen up the logo and make the programme more diverse and varied.“ Glenn has freelanced in the music industry for the last 22 years and in the past has worked closely with Alban Arena, which is managed by the same company as the halls.

He says: “I’m trying to forge stronger links between the two.

“We have got a really good film society and the panto was a big success, so we want to build on that.

“It’s a really busy venue in terms of local societies and club hires, and we are lucky that we are supported by the local community, but some of the live entertainment had lost a little direction, so I’m hoping to give it a boost and having people like John Cooper Clarke here makes it a bit more of a serious prospect for other musicians.“

On Saturday Sixties star Gerry Marsden, of Gerry and The Pacemakers fame, will get the venue swinging with an evening of light-hearted banter and anecdotes from his career, peppered with hits such as Don’t Let The Sun Catch You Crying, You’ll Never Walk Alone and Ferry Cross the Mersey.

Harpdenden Public Halls, Southdown Road, Harpenden. Details: 01582 767525, harpendenpublichalls.co.uk