THE owner of an award-winning jazz bar now wants the venue to become the new home for Latin music in the Midlands.

Number 5 bar, in George Street, has already become well-known for its regular jazz nights, when live bands play.

However, after the recent success of his salsa nights, owner Stephen Rouse is now enlisting professional help to transform his bar into the best salsa venue in the region.

Stephen, from Darley Abbey, said: "I've always been interested in South American music as my parents brought me up on it."

Stephen's friends Stanley Smith, 50, and Amanda Hawley, 34, were already regulars on the salsa scene. Stan, of Oakwood, is one of the founders of Salsa Kitchen Dancers, a series of salsa nights which have happened at different venues across Derby. Amanda, of Nottingham, is an award-winning Salsa and Zumba teacher.

Stephen said: "My friend Stan had his 50th birthday party here. Many of Stan's friends from salsa were there and Amanda started playing her Cuban music CDs. The atmosphere was electric. I was watching everyone dance and they were spectacular."

Stan said: "The Salsa Kitchen came about more by accident than design. I started going to salsa lessons in Derby with my friend Errol. We built up a circle of friends and used to practice moves in Errol's kitchen. That's how we came up with the name. We started a Facebook group and it just grew from there."

Stephen said: "I spoke to Stan and Amanda and we put on a night just before Christmas. It went brilliantly. We had a completely full house."

"Even people who had never salsa danced before came because they were curious about the music."

Their night, which they aptly named Cuba Libre – Free Cuba – was so successful that it is now a regular monthly fixture, on the final Friday. Cuba Libre features Latin cocktails, two floors of Cuban music and live DJs.

And salsa expert Amanda will be leading classes every Tuesday.

Entrance is free and Stephen is hoping that it will attract all types of people, not just those who know how to salsa dance.

Stephen said: "Amanda will be teaching salsa downstairs. The upstairs room will be open for people to try out what they have learnt."

For the summer, the trio have planned three huge salsa events to mark the bank holiday weekends called "Toto Latino" – All Things Latin.

Stephen said: "If we're going to do it then we want to be the best around. It won't affect the jazz, this place is a home for all music."

"Salsa events usually happen in village halls, or hotels as one-off events. But we are going to ride with it, I want salsa and Latin music to have a home here. Jazz has been here for nearly three years and we want the same for salsa."

Stephen's next collaboration will be with Russ Winstanley, the founder of Wigan Casino. Russ ran the famous Northern Soul nights there and will be re-creating these nights at Number 5 in May.