A NEW pagan and spiritual healing shop is determined to bring back some positivity to the once thriving Market Arcade.

Owner Jodie Lentle, 37, has traded from Market Arcade since February. Before then, she explained, she had run her pagan and spiritual business from the nearby Newport Market.

"It's my regulars that are my bread and butter here," she said.

"I sell crystal pagan spiritual products. Nobody else was doing it before I did. There's one other shop that sells a few crystals, but we're the only dedicated shop like this in Newport.

"We also to Reiki healing and crystal healing in here too. I've only started doing Reiki in the last month or so, but it's bringing my regulars in.

"Unfortunately there's not much footfall in Market Arcade, but it is increasing.

"There's so much negativity in Newport at the moment, but we want to bring back the positivity by increasing footfall.

"And footfall has increased recently, because the trade in the market picking up. "They're holding flea market events and so on, which helps us too.

"We're hoping the arcade will get heritage funding to restore it, which would be amazing.

"We've started building our own website for the market and the market arcade, and we use Facebook to promote our individual stores too.

"We're trying to work together to build up the area as a whole. I'm trying to arrange a coffee morning for my customers on Wednesday mornings in the Mad Hatter cafe up the top of the arcade.

"I want to bring my like minded customers together for a chill and a chat on 10am on a Wednesday morning, and I'm looking to rent an office in the market too to hold workshops and healing sessions there."