A BUSINESS devoted to Aston Martins made famous by James Bond aims to move up a gear with a £500,000 showroom venture.

Aston Workshop has opened Car Barn, in Beamish, County Durham.

Bosses say the 1,000sq metre site will help meet demand for classics such as Bentley and Mercedes, and even a Porsche said to have belonged to David Bowie.

They added the endeavour has created six jobs across sales and servicing roles, and includes a body shop to repair models.

Car Barn is the latest development at the Aston Workshop, which is owned by Bob Fountain and has provided restoration services since 1988.

It previously received Aston Martin service status in 2009, and, in 2011, joined forces with North-East classic car company, Macdonald Racing, to launch dealership Beamish Morgan.

Mr Fountain said: “We’ve had enormous success in recent years and, as we see so many non-Aston Martin cars passing through our showroom, we felt the time was right to create a site specially dedicated to amazing non-Aston makes.

“Many of our sales come from overseas, from Europe to the US and Asia.

“We are keen for car fans closer to home – who are not looking for an Aston - to benefit from the world-class facilities and top standards of service we have here.”