An Anglesey village is set to buck the trend by seeing the return of a local shop following years of determined efforts.

The same community venture that saved Bryngwran’s village pub has now been successful in its bid for lottery funding to develop a shop and cafe as well as hairdressers on the site.

The plans, which have already been approved by Anglesey Council planners, can now be realised thanks to a £100,000 lottery grant which will allow the development of outbuildings at the Iorwerth Arms pub and restore lost village amenities as well as create employment opportunities.

With the project set to cost £170,000 in total, the remainder of the funding has been provided through the Isle of Anglesey Charitable Trust – now known as ‘Y Gymdeithas’ – and the Arfor programme designed to help businesses in Welsh-speaking heartlands.

The future of the Iorwerth Arms was thought to be bleak after the “for sale” sign went up outside the pub in May 2014, with fears the site would make way for housing.

But in less than a year, villagers quickly clubbed together to buy it from Punch Taverns and run it for themselves after securing over £100,000 worth of loans.

Now the only community-owned pub on the island, the next phase of its resurrection will see the current outbuildings converted into business units which will also see the return of a Bryngwran village shop for the first time in well over a decade.

Neville Evans, the Chair of Bryngwran Cymunedol, added that the units would also provide a cafe and hairdressers in the village.

“On St David’s Day there are 100,000 reasons to celebrate our patron saint’s day here in Bryngwran with this brilliant announcement that our ambitious project has been given the thumbs up by the National lottery,” he said.

“This is the other side of the National Lottery where as well as giving people the opportunity to achieve personal riches this funding will certainly enrich the quality of life in this village community by bringing in additional services and jobs to a rural community which has lost all its shops over the last 30 years.”

The group’s vice chair, Kevin Humphreys, thanked the people of Bryngwran and surrounding villages for their help in putting together the bid by responding to numerous consultation exercises carried out to ascertain what facilities were needed in the area.

“This has been a community effort all round, by the Directors, our staff, customers and the wider public in Bryngwran and beyond,” he said.

“All the hard work has now borne fruit.”

One of the local county councillors and unpaid director of Bryngwran Cymunedol also welcomed the announcement.

“This is great news for Bryngwran and surrounds and will hopefully improve the quality of life for villagers by providing a village shop, café and hairdressers,” said Cllr Bob Parry.

“This is fantastic news”

According to the group, the work of refurbishing the outbuildings will start in April and will take roughly nine months to fully complete.