Blas ar Fwyd in Llanrwst, Snowdonia, has reopened its wine shop after almost four years of extensive renovations following flood damage.
Since the village was hit by storm Ciara, Deiniol ap Dafydd and his team have been able to run the business from their nearby premises. But they say the return to the original, and now much-improved, shop has been a boost for the local community.
“It’s reopened with a bang,” says Deiniol. “There’s just a fantastic space for people to enjoy browsing and for events.
“We’ve been able to hold meet-the-buyer sessions with the Welsh government and some Welsh food and drink wholesale suppliers so that we can wholesale on their behalf. And we’ve held meetings like the North Wales Fine Food & Drink Cluster.
“We’ve already held two tastings for about 80 or 90 people and the next one sold out within a couple of hours, so this space is seriously useful and the welcome back that the community has given is so positive.”
Once work started on the 200-year-old building, it was discovered that there were barely any foundations. “There was just a thin layer of concrete on some river stone,” Deiniol explains. “We had to take out a metre and a half in depth throughout the 200 square metre space.
“Previously we had a wine shop next door to our original delicatessen and our sales office was in the back. Now we’ve built new offices and rehoused the delicatessen next door to the kitchens.
“Over the road now, we’ve a business with a café bar, and the delicatessen and the kitchens all housed together, which works really well. The whole space on this side of the road is now turned over to one major wine shop with about 2,000 lines.”
