As Covid-19 hit, a pub in St John’s was reborn as a local lifeline and now it looks like it might be staying that way.

An application (20/00945/C) has been submitted with planners that would see the current temporary additional use of the Tynwald Hill Inn as a shop made permanent.

The tenants of the pub, Robin and Jana Watterson swapped the tables and bar stools for shelves and news stands after the village’s shop and post office closed and Covid-19 forced them to close the pub.

During lockdown, Environment, Food and Agriculture Minister Geoffrey Boot relaxed planning rules to allow for pubs and cafes to operate as take aways or to provide vital local services, such as a shop, in order to support both the businesses and their communities.

Their decision to run the shop was not only support by residents, but also by German Parish Commissioners. The local authority said the move had been a ’wonderful service to the community’.

In their application, they said: ’We wish to continue with our provision of essential groceries from Tynwald Inn. We have been granted temporary planning permission and would like to make the shop permanent as we have received plenty of support from St John’s village.’

If the proposal is approved by planners, the shop would be open from 8am until the pub closes at 11pm.

The application added: ’We have been and still are the only shop in St John’s village and we would like to continue to provide this service to our community for the foreseeable future.

’As many of our customers are elderly and have struggled to get their shopping from elsewhere, they have been asking if we are going to continue to provide these services. We sincerely hope we can do so.’

The shop would operate, as it has since lockdown, in the smaller bar and provide essential products including food and toiletries.

In their application, the Wattersons say the pub’s 40 parking spaces is more than sufficient for both businesses.