A new music venue in Renfrew is promoting up-and-coming local acts in the town by organising free-to-attend gigs.

The lounge area of Cottons Bar, in Ferry Road, is now the home of The Radio Room, which has been hosting live music nights every Friday since late April.

The new venture has been launched by event manager Drew McCormack, along with singer-songwriter Erin Hephzibah and music producer Gerry Dineen.

Starting next month, the trio are teaming up with Immersion Radio to find talented local acts and give them as much exposure as possible.

The Gazette:

The Gazette:

Drew has been involved in the Paisley music scene for many years and is now hoping to help bring similar live events to Renfrew.

The 62-year-old told The Gazette: "I'm very against the 'pay-to-play' approach, as I hate young acts having to sell a certain number of tickets to be able to perform.

"Instead, we get the pub to pay for the acts so we can provide free entry for gigs, which is unusual in these times.

"Paisley now has a massive amount of venues putting on a lot of music while Renfrew and Johnstone don't really have anything, so the idea is to get these local communities engaged in live music that they don't have to travel to in order to see it."

The Gazette:

The Gazette:

As well as Cottons Bar's lounge being used as a music venue, there are plans to use several rooms above the pub for a new social enterprise being set up by Drew.

One of the spaces, which has been named The Room Upstairs, will host bespoke acoustic gigs, and singer-songwriter Martin Stephenson is set to perform in the space on Friday, September 1, with 23-year-old Erin as the support act.

There are also plans for another room called In The Flat Above to be used as a content creation room, podcasting station, and arts and crafts drop-in room.

The Gazette:

The Gazette:

Drew, who lives in Troon, said it had been rewarding to work on these new projects with step-daughter Erin.

He added: "Erin is a tremendous talent and well-known in the unsigned local music scene.

"I would encourage people who have got a love for live music to come along as I think original acts bring something really fresh and different, and they can now be enjoyed for free on a regular basis."

To stay up-to-date with the latest gigs taking place at The Radio Room, visit www.facebook.com/CottonsBar.