It's an 'honour' for Chirk business to reach national awards final

Glyn Wylfa Ltd, in Castle Road, Chirk, near Oswestry, has been named a finalist in the UK Social Enterprise Awards in the category for Transformative Community (Business).

Brian Colley, Glyn Wylfa director, said: “It is an honour for our directors, employees, customers and other stakeholders to be recognised as a shortlisted social enterprise for this prestigious award.”

Glyn Wylfa Ltd was established eight years ago by Chirk residents as a social enterprise for the benefit to the local community. It's a café, community and tourist hub, with a business centre too.

There's even a police station on the site which was the old Chirk estate office and surrounding site.

The social enterprise and development trust was created with the intent of developing and refurbishing the site.

In the last year, Glyn Wylfa has increased sales by 15 per cent and net profit/surplus by 30 per cent which was used for energy saving and customer benefit investments while also doubling their charitable and local donations.

The café welcomes more than 43,000 visitors per year, employs 13 and is open seven days a week.

The business centre houses a number of successful businesses, plus the local police station, that in total employ approximately 30 local people.

Social enterprises are businesses which trade for a social or environmental purpose.

There are 100,000 social enterprises in the UK contributing £60bn to the UK economy, each one being set up to tackle some of the biggest challenges we face from homelessness to the climate emergency.

The UK Social Enterprise Awards run by Social Enterprise UK, the national membership body for social enterprises, recognise the nation’s most pioneering social enterprises.

Glyn Wylfa will be joining other shortlisted organisations at the prestigious awards ceremony held at London’s iconic Guildhall on December 8.

Peter Holbrook, chief executive of Social Enterprise UK said: "The UK Social Enterprise Awards are back, bigger and better than ever before.

"We have had a record number of applications this year, all of which have showcased the strength, dynamism and resilience of the social enterprise community through what’s been an incredibly difficult and uncertain period.

"Over the course of the pandemic social enterprises have been going above and beyond the call of duty to support their teams, the individuals, and communities they work with, showing the grit, determination and innovation so inherent to this sector. They’ve been operating directly on the frontline of the crisis, launching new products and pivoting their business models to meet the needs of communities and society as a whole."

For more information about Glyn Wylfa, visit glynwylfa.co.uk and the cafe is at caffiwylfa.com.