The inside of an Chippenham electrical shop was destroyed by a fire late on Sunday and the business has been unable to open since.

Two fire crews from Chippenham were called out at 10.15pm to tackle the blaze at Lancett Electricals, a single-storey shop in Park Lane owned by Leslie Lancett.

Mr Lancett, who lives in Swindon, was unaware of the damage until he turned up for work on Monday morning and found police tape spread across the front of his shop.

The discovery was a terrible shock for him, according to Laura White, who owns the 7th Heaven Beauty Salon next to Mr Lancett’s shop.

Ms White heard about the fire from another shop neighbour and at first she was worried that it had also spread to her shop.

She said: “I came over immediately to check because where we have the metal shutters no-one would know if there had been any damage.

“Luckily the shop was fine, but it was far too close for comfort.

"I have been here for 25 years and this is my 25th year celebration so I would have been completely devastated.

“Obviously Mr Lancett is not in his shop today. I saw him briefly yesterday morning, but he himself had no idea that there had been a fire until he turned up for work.

“The poor chap must have had a terrible shock when he arrived and he was going of to the fire station to find out what had happened.”

Two fire engines from Chippenham arrived to tackle the blaze on Sunday, blocking Park Lane’s one-way system for around an hour.

Fire fighters wearing breathing apparatus wearers put out the flames with one hose reel jet and a covering jet, and used a thermal imaging camera to check for hot spots before leaving.

The first crew left at 11.14pm and the second crew left 25 minutes later.

It is believed the fire was caused by a storage heater.