BRITAIN'S largest independent music retail chain is hoping to start fitting out its new premises in Darlington at the start of March.

Music Zone, a Stockport-based firm which has 27 stores across the North of England, hopes to open in the Queen Street arcade in mid-April.

The firm will occupy the site formerly used by the Impulse and Solid Sounds chains, and is also expecting to open two other new stores in the region this year.

Managing director Russ Grainger said Music Zone, which already has stores in Newcastle, the MetroCentre, Washington, Sunderland and Hartlepool, will offer music at cheap prices, keeping it competitive with Darlington's new HMV store.

The other planned new stores include a site in Middlesbrough, which they hope to open in the month following Darlington, and at Stockton's Wellington Square, which will open in the middle of the year.

This will be part of Music Zone's expansion, which will see it increase its number of branches to 41.