A FAMILY fun day is being held tomorrow to celebrate a popular Weymouth food store being able to stay open for longer.

Wise Buys in Lynch Lane, which helps struggling families, is now able to stay open until 5.30pm after restrictions were lifted by West Dorset District Council.

The community shop faced a battle to stay open last year under previous owners, with hundreds of people writing letters of support. Councillors agreed to a change of use for the building, allowing the owners to continuing of trade trading, but restrictions were put on opening hours, meaning it had to close at 2pm.

New owner Lara Shephard said she was thrilled that the restrictions have now been lifted.

“It was a shame when we had to close early because a lot of people couldn’t benefit, especially those who were working. We will now be opening from 9.15am to 5.30pm from Tuesday to Friday, and 9.15am to 2pm on Saturdays – but we’ve got the option of opening on Saturday afternoons, Sundays and Mondays as well, which we may look at doing when the weather is warmer, or in the run up to Christmas or Halloween.”

Wise Buys sells best before or short date stock at low prices, meaning families can pick up branded products that they may not otherwise be able to afford. The scheme also cuts down on the amount of waste sent to landfill.

Lara said: “Some of our customers have very big families – there is one, for instance with 13 children. It’s so rewarding to see parents be able to come in and get products they normally wouldn’t be able to buy. Some also give their children 50p or so to spend on what they want, which is educational for them.

“There are a lot of similar projects which have been highlighted on television programmes recently. Some have people sign up to be members, but we welcome anyone as customers.”

Lara’s background is in the food retail industry, and she was looking to move away from Weymouth when the opportunity at Wise Buys came up.

She added: "It’s great to be part of something where there is so much community spirit.”

The family event, including offers, competitions and a live broadcast from student radio station AIR 107.2, takes place at the store tomorrow from 10am to 4pm.