A WEDDING dress shop is proving a big hit with brides after its owner received funding to start the business.

Tara Wilkinson, 31, of Wingate, County Durham, established Exclusively Yours in the village's Front Street with a Prince's Trust loan of £3,000 and a £400 grant from the European Regional Development Fund.

Three years on, the business has not only survived but has expanded and taken on new staff.

Its services, designing and making wedding and bridesmaids dresses to clients' specific requirements, have proved so popular that it has a month-long waiting list for appointments.

Having moved to larger premises opposite the original shop, Ms Wilkinson can now carry a larger range of stock.

The shop now incorporates workrooms, two ground floor showrooms and a car park, and Ms Wilkinson designed its interior to include Roman columns and ceilings swathed in 300 metres of fabric.

She said: "It has been, and still is, very hard work, but I was determined to make a success of it.

"I knew the idea was a good one and I was sure I could make it work."

Of the more than 400 young people The Prince's Trust helps into business each year, 60 per cent are still trading three years later.

The trust's business manager for Durham, Brenda Baxter, said: "Tara is a shining example of a new business start who is not only surviving, but expanding too."