Last updated at 07:24, Friday, 05 February 2010

A FAMILY-run opticians in Cockermouth is due to reopen next week.

Heals, on Main Street, run by Diane and Philip Heal and their daughter Nikky, lost 80 per cent of its stock and all its testing equipment when the floods hit in November.

Now they have managed to get the shop open again two and a half months since it was flooded.

Nikky said: “We are pleased to start business again so soon after the floods. We made sure we contacted a specialist shop fitter the day after the floods and they decided to move a job they had planned in January until Easter so they could get our shop refurbished quickly.

“A lot of our customers have said that because we have only been closed a relatively short space of time, they have not minded waiting until we reopened.”

The family have been visiting the shop daily to see how work has been progressing as well as meeting insurance companies and contractors.

They set up a temporary office in Limelighting on Station Road for repairs to glasses although Nikky said many people had gone to branches in Workington and Maryport.

Philip added: “We have been encouraged with the town’s response to the crisis and we hope ourselves, along with the other shops that have opened, will encourage people back in to the town.”

First published at 19:24, Thursday, 04 February 2010
Published by http://www.timesandstar.co.uk