BOLTON'S Slaters menswear on Deansgate is preparing to re-open - after the store was badly damaged in flooding in December last year.

The refurbishment of Slaters Menswear in Deansgate is progressing well, according to the store’s manager, after it was devastated by flooding during lockdown late last year.

The store was closed along with all other non-essential retail in November last year and it was only due to people passing by that the flooding was spotted.

This ruined any chance of trading in the run-up to Christmas.

However, the refurbishment of the store is going well, with the manager, Mark Howard, hoping to welcome customers as soon as possible.

He said: “We hope to be back by early April, which is when we hope retail may be allowed to open as well.

“It’s looking really great at the site now and we hope it will finish and coincide with government announcements. The team we have working on it is really good and the support we have got from the owner of Slater’s has been really helpful.

“We’ve been in Bolton town centre for 16 years and hope we can be here for 16 more. The owner has invested money into us to help us rebuild as he really cares about this site in Bolton. He loves the town as much as I do as a local lad and has big hopes for the town centre.

“We are always looking to champion Bolton and I think the plans for the town centre, especially Crompton Place, and the rest of Bolton are really exciting for the town.

“It really is a town for the future and we can’t wait for everything to be open again.

“Before Covid our business was growing and we hope to continue that when lockdowns end, people still like the personal touch of coming into stores in the town centre.

“I really think the plans in place for the town can help make Bolton a hub with thriving high streets with big names so people don’t have to travel to somewhere like the Trafford Centre.”