Fire-hit Great Harwood dog bakery looks for temporary home

Millie and Ruby’s dog bakery in Great Harwood was hit by the blaze caused by an electrical fault in a fusebox.

Diane Murphy, who runs the Queen Street store, saw the smoke coming from the fusebox and called the fire service.

The store has had to temporarily close following the fire which caused severe smoke damage and has left a large amount of repair work needed.

Miss Murphy, 44, of Sabden, said she hopes the site will be ready again in three months but is keen to find a temporary home to stop her losing business.

The mother-of-one said: “Everything is looking a bit dire.

“There have been so many meetings we’ve had to have to try to get everything sorted, it’s been a nightmare.

“We’ve been really busy since we opened, everything had been going great.

“We’re trying to relocate temporarily, we don’t want to lose the business we’ve got.

“We’re on the lookout for a temporary home, we’ve tried a few places but no found anywhere suitable.

“It’s been horrendously stressful, we just want to make sure we do what we can for the customers.”

The owner has three dogs and is keen to keep supplying treats for canines as soon as possible. The bakery provides a variety of natural handmade treats for dogs in a wide range of different flavours.

She is ideally looking for a site in East Lancashire which needs to have approval to serve the food products.

The former policewoman of 14 years opened the store in January last year after previously running a similar business from home.

Dog treats include chicken and cheddar biscuits, birthday cakes and ‘dog beer’, a special drink for animals branded and packaged like regular beer.

As well as smoke damage the fire last week ruined the woodwork and left the electrics at the shop needing rewiring.

Three crews were at the scene for more than an hour to put out the fire.

A spokesman for the fire service said: “We responded to the 999 call, reporting a fire in an electrical fusebox."