Florist rises from ashes of devastating fire

A Derbyshire florist is set to reopen after a devastating fire.

Enchanted Rose, in High Street, Alfreton, was forced to close after a nail salon at the top of the building caught alight on 21 March.

Lisa Insley, who runs the florist with her mother and sister, said support from the community and customers "was so strong" that they "couldn't give up".

The family business was able to continue running from the back room of the Trafford Lowes funeral parlour and is set to reopen at new premises on Saturday.

Ms Insley said: "We've worked so hard since 2020, we weren't willing to give it up."

The fire service said the blaze was caused by an electrical fault in a tumble dryer in the salon.

It left the roof needing repairs, said Ms Insley, and without being able to return inside for several weeks, water damage had destroyed stock and led to mould inside Enchanted Rose's premises.

Ms Insley said: "It was just thousands of pounds worth of stock, not to mention furniture.

"I had made a handmade 7ft wedding arch that had just got completely ruined.

"Now it smells in there, there's mould all over the walls, the ceiling's come down, the flooring needs to be ripped out, the electrics are all gone - companies want their stuff back but it was ruined."

The fire-hit building remains clad in scaffolding and neither business is able to operate from it currently, said Ms Insley.

Instead Enchanted Rose, which has had a shop in Alfreton for three-and-a-half-years, picked up the keys to a unit in High Street previously used by Shoezone on 1 May.

The store will be ready to open to the public on Saturday, with Gogglebox's Siddiqui family cutting the ribbon.

Ms Insley said: "We've met the most wonderful landlord, he even painted the shop pink for us - which I don't think he was overly impressed with when they were coming out covered in pink paint.

"The support of the community was so strong that we couldn't just give up on them or our customers, everyone has just been so kind."

Follow BBC Derby on Facebook, on X, or on Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected] or via WhatsApp on 0808 100 2210.