Shop selling Lemmy merchandise set to open

Andy Edwards is the sculptor of the statue of Lemmy Kilmister in Burslem

The sculptor of a statue of Motörhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister has said he has signed the lease on a new shop which will sell merchandise and items linked to the late rock star.

Andy Edwards said the idea had come about as a way to accommodate and welcome all the visitors that had come to Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent since the statue was unveiled in May.

Barewall Art Gallery had kept a visitor book, he said, which contained more than 60 different nationalities of people who had come to visit the statue.

"There's people there everyday from all over the world," Mr Edwards said.

Lemmy died in Los Angeles nearly 10 years ago, on 28 December 2015, four days after his 70th birthday.

Thousands of people crammed into Market Place for the unveiling of the Lemmy statue, and there was a follow-up concert organised later in the summer too.

Mr Edwards said he hoped the new shop would give fans a place to socialise as well as helping to build momentum behind a project to reopen the nearby Queen's Theatre as a live music venue, recording studio and music school to be known as Kilmister Halls.

The new shop would be opened in premises located in between the town's market place cafe and Barewall Art Gallery, he added.

Thousands of fans turned up for the unveiling of Lemmy's statue in May

"A proper community is emerging there, and Lemmy's responsible for this because he's attracting the people – and the people seem to be enjoying what's there," he said.

"We just thought let's take a punt and see what we can do."

They had reproduced t-shirts of the Vale Park gig and some worn by Lemmy, he added.

The idea is to continue organising live music events, free of charge where possible, for people to attend.

The statue of Motörhead's Lemmy Kilmister was unveiled in his hometown of Burslem in May

"The shop is kind of a preview, hopefully, of what Kilmister Halls – the former Queens Theatre – will be like," he said.

"It will be an environment for people to meet, take away some merchandise and stuff like that, that will help keep up the profile, keep up our momentum and keep us able to put on things for free – that's the name of the game really."

He said the shop was not designed to fund the Kilmister Halls project, but that is was important to continue engaging with people while that initiative took shape.

Mr Edwards said his passion for the scheme was motivated by his love of the area and his love of Lemmy and Motörhead.