A KEIGHLEY business has opened again almost exactly eight months after it was wrecked by the 2015 Boxing Day Floods.

Bump and Babes, in Bradford Road Stockbridge, lost tens of thousands of pounds of stock when it was swamped by flood water last December.

The building's interior has had to be fully dried out, gutted, completely re-fitted and refurbished then restocked with brand new goods.

It was officially re-opened shortly after 5pm yesterday (August 25) by Keighley town mayor Councillor Shabir Ahmed and Dayal Sharma, chief executive officer of The Centre for Politics & Public Participation.

Cllr Ahmed said the town should feel honoured to be home to this business, which sells a wide variety of equipment for babies and toddlers and also features a coffee shop.

"I think for the shop to have bounced back from what happened last year is a marvellous achievement," he added.

"It was a devastating experience for the shop's owner and staff, and they've shown a lot of dedication to get themselves back on their feet. This store deserves to go from strength to strength."

Mr Sharma said: "They've put a lot of effort into getting themselves open again. They've done a wonderful job and Keighley needs more businesses like this."

Francis Satish, the owner of Bump and Babes, spoke of the desperate struggle to try and save the shop's valuable stock while water began entering the property last Boxing Day.

He remained at the business until 2am the following day, when he finally had to concede temporary defeat.

Mr Satish said that at one point, the water had even been up to his shoulders while he tried to salvage those goods which were due to be delivered to customers in January 2016.

"We lost £42,000 worth of stock which had to be dumped," he said.

"Another £10,000 worth which we thought we'd saved had to be dumped as well because it was covered in dust.

"Any goods which were covered in water had to be thrown out, because this is all meant for babies and of course it can't be used if it's contaminated.

"We've had to rebuild the whole business, and we want our customers to know that we're back.

"It has taken a long time to reach this stage, but after the first three months the insurance company was very good to us, and that side of things went quite smoothly.

"They had a lot of checks to make initially – and I don't blame them for that – but while this was going on I was worried that we'd never be able to re-open."

Sales advisor Alison Whitfield, who has worked at the shop for 18 and a half years, said: "It's been one nightmare after another but now there is light at the end of the tunnel.

"We're finally up and running again, and we hope to get back the custom we lost."