THE owner of The Wharf in Tavistock, Stephen Court, has died following a fall at his Mary Tavy home.

Stephen, also a loudspeaker designer and entrepreneur, was a dedicated soundman and one of pro-audio’s more colourful characters. He worked for the BBC and ITV and some of the biggest names in rock and had anecdotes to relate about them all — and the merits, or otherwise, of their sound systems.

Stephen and his wife Angela bought The Wharf in 2006 and developed it into the leading live music venue in Tavistock. The sound system at The Wharf is, not surprisingly, designed and built by Court Acoustics, which was the vehicle for his various system designs for both studios and live applications.

Recently Stephen had been promoting his latest loudspeakers with presentations at leading studios including Real World in Bath and British Grove in London.

He was also the sound designer for the stage production of Freudiana in Vienna, which was the last project he did with Alan Parsons Project co-writer Eric Woolfson before he died.

Throughout his career, Stephen championed the merits of quality sound. And it was not always easy.

He once said: ’I recall trying to persuade the London Palladium to install a sound system, this followed their phone call to me, inviting me to provide a solution to their sound problems. "We can’t afford your quote because we have just put £20,000 worth of carpet and chandeliers in the foyer" was a not untypical response. "You can’t put speakers anywhere near the proscenium arch because the royal crest goes there."

’Six months later, they parted with double that amount of money on a system that took two years to sort out.’

The move to Tavistock came about during a chance stop off for tea and cake and ’a nosy’ into the local estate agent window where The Wharf was displayed as up for sale. A long term dream became a reality. Stephen had always wanted his own venue where he was able to immerse himself fully into his love and passion and thus it became a full on playground of music and entertainment.

Stephen’s wife Angela said: ‘The Wharf will continue to grow and prosper — it was very much Stephen’s passion and that flame will continue in his memory.’

Stephen Court will be laid to rest on Friday at Mary Tavy Parish Church where a host of music names are expected to attend.

The Wharf will be shut during the day as a mark of respect but Angela said it will be ’business as usual’ in the evening for Bootleg Blondie as one of Stephen’s pet hates was cancelling events.

Angela said: ’Stephen was a total "the show must go on" kind of person so everyone who comes down from London to the wake will be invited to stay for the gig and unwind, exactly as Stephen would have wanted.’