A NEWSAGENT and off-licence rebuilding its premises has been likened to a ‘phoenix rising from the flames’.

Barrow Booze was damaged in October last year when a car collided with the front of the Rawlinson Street store.

A driver was arrested on suspicion of dangerous driving following the collision.

Eight months, scaffolding has been placed on the front of the shop in a sign that work is due to go ahead.

The shop has been closed since the collision.

Owner Gihini Mayadunna said at the time of the collision that he expected his shop to be closed for two weeks to allow for repairs on the inside of the unit.

Hindpool councillor Dave Pidduck, whose ward covers Rawlinson Street, welcome the prospect of the business reopening.

He said: “It’s always welcome, especially during this pandemic, to see a business preparing to potentially reopen.

“It’s like a phoenix from the flames.”

At the time of the incident Mr Mayadunna said he was serving two teenagers inside his shop when he heard a ‘big noise’.

Seconds later, the children would have been walking out of the shop with potentially fatal consequences, he said.

Police at the scene said nobody was seriously injured and cordoned off the area.

Two ambulances and two police cars attended.

A 29-year-old man from Barrow has been arrested on suspicion of dangerous driving was arrested at the time. The street was closed the next day concerns about the building’s stability.