PETER'S Cathedral Bakers is set to resume production and reopen its chain of shops next week, a month after its Durham headquarters was hit by a major fire.

A new temporary bakery site, in Peterlee, should go into operation by midweek, with the family firm's 71 shops set to reopen next Thursday. Senior staff and shop managers were given details of the recovery of the business in the aftermath of last month's fire at a meeting at Bowburn Hall Hotel on Wednesday.

Peter's retail sales and business development manager Alan Dixon said the initial target for reopening, on Monday, had been put back three days to allow all the newly-installed machinery to be tested.

The company has carried out a rapid fit-out of the disused former Hibernia Foods unit on Peterlee's North-East Industrial Estate, since the blaze at its Dragonville Industrial Estate base.

"We're just about back in business, ready to roll," said Mr Dixon. "The date to begin production was put back until Wednesday to ensure everything's right."