BBC 6 Music DJ Tom Ravenscroft at Pump and Grind tonight

Artist Becky Whiting at work on her Pump and Grind window design (Image: Archant)

He will be joined at the Great Colman Street venue by Olli Dutton, who has worked with the likes of First Aid Kit, Polica, Hercules Love Affair and Gold Panda.

Pump and Grind is the brainchild of Tom Kerridge, who’s also behind Ipswich’s Ramp Recordings record label.

“I wanted to bring something a bit more contemporary to the town, somewhere fun and unpretentious you can hang out for hours and listen to wicked tunes... I like to think it has the feel of a European café bar, where families mix with businessmen; youngsters can play ping pong and older people do the crosswords while sampling our craft beers. Everyone is welcome. It’s just chilled.”

So far, there have been appearances from DnB producers and DJs Villem and McLeod with vocal sensation Riya. The trio are nominated for best song at this year’s Drum and Bass Awards. Suffolk soul has also been represented by up-and-coming Mirror Signal.

There are plans to bring bigger names to the venue, live house, funk and soul music; hip hop DJs plus regular quiz and theme nights. There are also creative and digital networking evenings held there every month. Read more about that here.

Mr Kerridge also invites local artists to put their stamp on the windows, with displays changing every two months. The current window is by local art collective The Cone Sisters but will soon be replaced by Becky Whiting Designs and Kieran Page.

To contribute work, check out @pump_and_grind on Twitter.