A CHARITY shop will be closed for up to a month after it was gutted by fire last Friday.

Flames tore through the ground floor of the National Kidney Research Foundation store in Harraton Terrace, Birtley, near Chester-le-Street.

Firefighters, who were called to the scene at around 3am, said the likely cause was an electrical fault in the display window. The heat also caused the window to explode, showering the street with glass.

Shop manager Norma Dunn said: "We have lost everything. All the stock is ruined.

"This has hit us very hard. It is going to take us at least three weeks before we are ready to open, and it could be a month."

The autumn is the shop's busiest period, when it takes an average of £200 a day.

It is the only charity shop in Birtley, but staff fear the temporary closure could mean some of their regular benefactors will switch to donating unwanted goods elsewhere.

"We have been open for six years and really built it up," said Mrs Dunn. "But something like this could really knock the business, because people will find another outlet to donate their stuff."