BOSSES at a popular music shop that was badly damaged in a suspected arson attack have scrapped plans to reopen temporarily.

Musical instruments worth £100,000 were damaged in the blaze at the Music Box shop, Whalley Road, Accrington, last month.

The owners of the business had considered opening up temporarily while work to rebuild their shop took place.

But Brian Grooby, 66, a part owner of the shop, said that plans has been scrapped as he was confident that Music Box could reopen in its original location in about three months.

He said: "The insurance company has approved the cash to pay for the cost of the damage, which is good news.

"It means that we are now in a position to talk to builders about making the repairs.

"It is a big job but we are determined to do the work and make sure that the shop re-opens.

"It is difficult to put a timescale on things but hopefully it could be as soon as three months."

It is expected that it will cost £350,000 to repair the shop and replace the stock.

Mr Grooby, who has run the business for the last 25 years, said initially he was keen on the idea of re-opening temporarily in Whalley Road while repairs were completed.

But he said that if the work was finished in three months it would not be financially sensible to find another premises in the meantime.

He added: "There are a lot of costs involved in setting up temporarily and it would not be worthwhile, or make sense to do that.

"We are determined to throw all of our energies into the Whalley Road site. It is full-steam ahead now."

The fire was on April 29. It is believed the blaze started in the ground floor lobby of a neighbouring property in Water Street.

Music Box's roof was ruined and there was massive fire damage to the shop itself.

Fire investigators have said that the blaze was started deliberately.

No-one has been arrested yet in connection with the fire.

Sniffer dogs did not detect any accelerants at the scene.