WORK is set to begin shortly on repairing a popular Halstead fish and chip shop which was damaged in a fire.

Riverside Fish Bar was gutted in a large chip pan fire in July which has seen three shop fronts closed since.

But now scaffolding has been put in place for repair work to begin, and the owners are hoping they can reopen before the turn of the year.

Kit Loi, owner, said: “All the scaffolding has been put up now, and they are ready to start work so hopefully that will begin shortly. Really we cannot wait to get the shop back open and back to normal.

“We were told that we may be able to open and be up and running by the end of the year, which would be amazing, but we haven’t had anything confirmed yet.

“Waiting is the worst part, there is nothing we can do about it at the moment, it is out of our hands unfortunately.

“It has been quite difficult for us, we went from six days a week to nothing. It is nice to have a little time off, we had a holiday and have done plenty of house work, but now we are just hoping to get back to normal.

"We miss our customers, and we miss the shop. We just have our fingers crossed the work will not take too long.”

The fire saw Riverside, Friends Chinese and charity shop Age UK severely damaged.

Friends has relocated further up the High Street and is now open, but Age UK is expected to remain closed into the New Year.