A SHOP wrecked by a fire has ‘come back stronger’ following a six-week refurbishment.

More than 30 firefighters were called to NH Foods Ltd in Brown Street, Accrington, in September, after an electrical fault in a fridge freezer destroyed the shop side of the premises, which also has a warehouse.

Now after a full refurbishment, director Majed Hussain said he was pleased to see support from people in the area as the shop reopened.

Mr Hussain said: “We’ve come back stronger. Obviously it cost a fair bit of money as the shop was fully burned out.

“We’re just thankful the warehouse didn’t get too badly affected.

“The only thing we’ve been doing for the past six or seven weeks is working hard on the refurbishment. Everything was burned down.”

The store provides a variety of food products such as meat, chicken, fruit, vegetables and other items.

The blaze started in one of the 12 freezers at the site and spread quickly to cause a large amount of smoke damage.

Following the blaze the store has installed new food counters, door frames, shutters and windows.

Mr Hussain said: “I just got a call in the early hours of the morning saying they could see smoke coming out of the shutter.

“We were just out of luck and we’ve got new everything, we are keen to learn from our mistakes.

“We’ve already had great support from shoppers, we have a lot of loyal customers.”

Police had to close the road for several hours on the day of the fire from the junction of Fountain Street to Ormerod Street.

Seven fire crews attended the blaze and they battled for more than three hours to put out the fire.

Firefighters were forced to cut through the shutters to access the fire.

Cllr Abdul Khan, who represents the area on Hyndburn Council, said the shop was important to the area and it was good news it was back open.

Cllr Khan said: “It is a real shame they were hit with the fire.

“The food store is needed in this area, there aren’t really any others around here like it.

“NH Foods have got a good reputation for great food available at a reasonable price.

“I wish them good luck in their future, it is great that they are back open for business again.”

Residents at the time said it was a ‘shame’ to see the business hit and were worried about its future.