A NEW funeral directors is set to open on High Street in Bangor next week, having been planned for 18 months by two friends.

Angladdau Enfys Funerals, which will be open to the public from January 4, can be found at 133 High Street, and will be run by co-directors Manon Williams and Louise White.

The company will be occupying a building that had previously been empty on High Street for “about 15 years”, and was a beneficiary of Welsh Government’s new Town Centre Entrepreneurship Fund.

Manon, who has previous experience of working in the industry, said: “We started planning the business in July 2020, following one of my other friends tragically losing two members of their family in an accident.

“I had previously worked in the funeral industry, and when I supported them with preparations for the funeral, I just decided that I wanted to do that for a living.

“We’re friends that have worked together previously. I’m from Bethesda and Louise is from Llangefni; that’s why we chose Bangor, because it’s central for the two of us."

Manon and Louise also received financial support from Gwynedd Council, which awarded them a grant, as well as £10,000 from the Town Centre Entrepreneurship Fund.

The year-long Welsh Government scheme aims to inject life back into town centres, particularly those hit hardest by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and Manon believes that her new business has certainly “brightened up” Bangor’s High Street.

She added: “It took us a while until we found this building that we’re in; it had been empty for about 15 years.

“We’d been supported already by Gwynedd Council; they’d given us a grant towards making sure the company was fully bilingual and that we could employ other people.

“Then, we heard that there was a new Welsh Government fund to reenergise high streets that are looking a bit dishevelled.

“This building required so much work from us that, had we not had the support of the grant, we wouldn’t have been able to take it on.

“The grant is £10,000 and doesn’t cover the cost of the renovation, but does cover some of the revenue costs, so that you can cover the capital costs with what u would’ve used otherwise for the revenue.

“For example, they supported us with the rent for the first few months so we were able to use the money we would’ve spent on the rent on doing the building up instead.

“With us being the first people to receive that grant, and considering this building has been empty and looked terrible for years, we just think it’s really brightened up the street.”

You can find out more about Angladdau Enfys Funerals by visiting its Facebook site at: www.facebook.com/AngladdauEnfysFunerals, or its Instagram page at: www.instagram.com/angladdauenfysfunerals.