A young entrepreneur who grew up in Cowbridge and attended the town's comprehensive school has been acknowledged for his business acumen by being invited to the coronation of King Charles III.

Rhys Mallows, 27, is managing director of Mallows Bottling based in the town.

He has already received a British Empire Medal after repurposing the firm's factory during the coronavirus pandemic to produce sanitiser bottles.

enough gel for 90 million handwashes l;eft his factory!

Mr Mallows said it is "lovely" that his firm's work during the pandemic is "not forgotten" after he received an invite to attend the service at Westminster Abbey on Saturday, 6 May.

A graduate of the University of Exeter where he studied science, edonomics and finance, Rhys said of his invitation: "It's not something I ever thought somebody would say to me actually, it's a very unique feeling really, it was a significant shock to be invited.

"I'm honoured to be one of those people invited. I received an email from the Cabinet Office which I found quite strange.

"I was on my own and I didn't particularly know if it was real or not, I didn't know if I could tell anyone.

"So it was strange. I've got a very small son, and my first thought was this is going to be great fun for him, to have your dad go to a coronation.

"It's something I never thought would happen, but also I have absolutely no expectation, it's quite hard to have any expectation.

"I've never really seen a coronation so it's going to be interesting, the atmosphere, it will be special."

After the pandemic hit in March 2020, his factory produced sanitiser bottles and the gel itself less than 10 days after licensing rules in the UK were changed to allow sites to be repurposed.

Mr Mallows said he had a "surreal time" trying to run his business during the pandemic.

He added: "It was a very trying time, people were very scared."