A pub in Nefyn has been given a new lease of life thanks to funding of £247,000.

The money will be used to restore Tafarn yr Heliwr for the community.

Tafarn yr Heliwr, (The Sportsman Pub) has been closed since 2014 but was bought by the local community in 2018.

The committee has been at the forefront of efforts to save the derelict pub and now they have been rewarded with £247,000 in funding for the project from the Welsh Assembly Community Facilities Programme.

Chairman of the committee, Bleddyn Evans, 45, said the pub “was in a bit of state”.

“Ideas had been thrown in a few times by various people, but nothing ever really came of it," he said.

“But then we had a public meeting in January 2018, to which lots of people turned up, so we knew that there was interest in it.

“From that we asked people if they wanted to get on board with the committee. We went from there really.”

The committee bought the pub in 2018 as a “community venture” after raising £85,000 by selling shares.

Bleddyn said: “In the beginning it was kind of daunting, we didn’t know anything. Two years down the line things have dropped into place, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.”

He continued: “Some of those who hold shares are locals, some of them have got holiday homes here, some of them have lived here and then moved away.

“So everybody has got their own little story about the pub, which is quite nice.”

The committee will use the money from the Welsh Assembly for phase one of the project, which is to renovate the lower floor of the building.

Work started last week, with the aim of finishing within six to seven months.

But the committee also hopes to receive more funding for phase two of the project, which will turn the first and second floor into a bunkhouse.

The committee hopes to finish the entire project by the end of the year, dependent on funding.