A COFFEE shop in Thornbury is still waiting on the start of its rebuild, months after it was gutted by a fire.

Heritage in Thornbury saw its gift shop reopen in November last year after the blaze tore through the building in September, but owners have informed the Gazette that work on the popular coffee shop at the rear of the building, has been delayed until the summer.

“It is one of those things where people expect an update but unfortunately there isn’t one,” said Tabi Marsh, the shop’s owner.

“The process is still in the tendering stage, as there are two insurers dealing with the rebuild, one for the landlord and one for the contents cover, and subsequently two loss adjustors so it is a slow process.

“We are targeting a summer reopening around May or June, hopefully in the next few weeks we will have an idea when they appoint a builder, but until that happens, we are quite stuck.”

The damage from the fire on September 5 was believed to have started in an outbuilding behind the Frying machine chip shop next door, and even after the work done to rebuild the store, it still shows some of the scars.

“I have had to move into an office nearby in Thornbury as my office in the shop still has a hole in.

“The coffee shop is still open to the elements as there is nothing to cover the shell of what is left of the building, which of course makes it look even worse.

“Unfortunately there is no cover over the coffee shop as it is too big for a tarp and the insurance companies felt it was too expensive to cover it with a steel cap.

“As a result, plaster is being pulled off the walls, which is not that bad as it would have to come down anyway, but the amount of rainwater soaking into the floor will mean the ground will take a long time to dry out to build upon.

“Things are being put into place so that once the ball is rolling, the gift shop can run on its own while I turn my attention to the coffee shop.

“We want the public and our loyal customers to know that we are committed to reopening as soon as we can and will look towards staffing the coffee shop nearer the time.”