WIREDGOV

A village shop in Denbighshire which campaigners are planning to develop into a community hub receives £200,000 from the UK Government Community Ownership Fund.

Welsh Secretary David TC Davies has been to Llandyrnog in Denbighshire to hear about new plans to reopen the village shop, save the current Post Office and introduce a community hub after campaigners received UK Government funding.

There has been a shop in the village since 1841 and it has served the community in its current location since 1982 until it closed in 2020.

Local residents had raised funds towards buying back the premises and running it for the benefit of the whole village before the project was recently awarded £200,000 from the UK Government’s Community Ownership Fund.

Mr Davies went to the shop on Thursday (12 January) where he heard from some of the campaigners about their plans.

Lead applicant Emyr Morris said:

We have really ambitious plans to revive our village shop back to its former glory and secure the Post Office, but we also want to do more and create a true community hub that serves Llandyrnog and its surrounding areas.

In addition to stocking local produce we want to provide light refreshments and a place for people to meet. Our village is in need of social space and a place where we can come together to support all members of our community.

We have further grant applications in the pipeline and are working towards launching a Community Share scheme

Welsh Secretary David TC Davies said:

I was delighted to meet Emyr and all the of the residents of Llandyrnog who have worked so hard on behalf of the village to get this project off the ground. It’s great to see UK Government money being spent on such a worthwhile scheme that will be of real benefit to so many people.

The Community Ownership Fund helps support services that are at risk of being lost forever and gives them a new lease of life. This not only brings people together, as has happened here in Llandyrnog, but creates opportunities for local people and boosts the local economy.

The Llandyrnog Village Shop is one of five successful projects in Wales recently awarded a total of £1.1 million in levelling up funding under the UK Government’s Community Ownership Fund.

More details on the funding are available here.