A town centre shop which was gutted by a large blaze has ‘risen from the ashes’.

Owners of Alisha’s Fashion, on Church Street, were left ‘shocked and heartbroken’ earlier this year after an electrical fault sparked a large fire which ‘destroyed everything’.

Nasem and her husband Mohammad Afzal said they are now ‘really happy to be up and running again’ after reopening the shop last week.

Nasem said: “It’s been very hard. It did set us back. Obviously when something like this happens you are very shocked and upset. We just weren’t expecting it at all.

“We have had good support from our customers. We are really happy to be up and running again. People are getting to know we are open and are coming back in.

“We are happy to get back to normality and are just trying to forget what has happened in the last few months. We did start to get a bit paranoid at home and turning things off and going round checking things so it didn’t happen again. It was something completely out of the blue for us.”

Repair work has been carried out on the shop, named after Nasem and Mohammad’s daughter Alisha, over the last two months with more than £15,000 being spent on new fittings.

New security alarms and fire and smoke detection systems have also been installed.

Nasem, who has run the shop with her husband on Church Street for six years and previously operated in the Market Hall, said: “Once the insurers got involved and things like that it took a little time, but they have managed to do it up really well for us.

“The builders came in at the beginning of July and it’s taken about two months.

“They have gutted the whole place and we have had to start anew with all new fittings and shelves. I thought it might have taken longer but they have been very good.

“We have given it a different look as the counter is in a different place and the shelves and lighting look different. We have also added the Asian ready-made line. We are very happy with the final look.”

Fire ravaged the building on March 20 and caused severe damage to the shop which sells clothes, fabrics, handbags and jewellery.

The nearby Wetherspoons Commercial Hotel was also forced to close for several hours after smoke got into their building.