A SHOP owner in Ringwood welcomed dozens of customers back to his store when it reopened several months after it was ravaged by a major fire.

Residents gathered at Ringwood Celebrations for its formal relaunch on Saturday morning following months of renovations, insurance queries, and tens of thousands of pounds of financial losses for the business.

Mike Beeston said staff had only stopped cleaning and preparing the shop gone 10pm on Friday night just hours before the store was due to reopen.

"Normally we would be open on Sunday but we're all having the day off," he said. "The staff deserve it. They have been just fantastic throughout all of this. I can't thank them enough."

When asked how he felt about the shop being open again he said he "couldn't quite believe it" and felt somewhat emotional about the last seven months.

News of the fire - which tore through the Furlong centre in November, just a month before Christmas - was delivered to Mr Beeston over the phone as he was boarding a plane for a much-needed holiday to Las Vegas. Having been given the all-clear after battling cancer, he was about to embark on a celebratory holiday when he received the call.

Knowing there was nothing he could do until fire investigators inspected the property he went to the States and was only able to find out the full extent of the damage upon his return.

Since then he and his dedicated group of staff have worked tirelessly to bring the shop back up to its former glory.

He was handed the keys to the unit just 10 days before the shop's grand reopening. He, his staff and family members had worked every hour of the day to restore the shop and welcome customers back during Saturday's celebrations.

Even before then he was still honouring customers' requests. When Ringwood School hosted its prom at the Bournemouth Highcliff Marriott Hotel, Mr Beeston delivered and arranged 300 balloons as promised.

It is believed the fire, which began sometime before 7.50am on November 27, was started after a wheelie bin was set on fire and pushed against the rear of the building.

It devastated neighbouring properties too. The Sue Ryder charity shop has still yet to return to its unit.