Work to re-build the fire-wrecked Morrisons store has begun.

Parts of the Folkestone supermarket's building, which was partly destroyed after a fire broke out last November, have been removed while the steel structure remains.

Workers are also clearing the site of any redundant materials.

A spokesman for the store said: "We’re still at the demolition and site clearance phase at the moment.

"We plan to make an announcement when we start construction works."

Morrisons, in Cheriton Road, went up in flames after a deep fat fryer in the store's cafe is believed to have caught alight.

More than 50 firefighters battled the blaze at its peak and fortunately there were no injuries.

The store has been trading from a temporary building in its car park ever since.

At the beginning of this year the retailer unveiled plans to completely demolish the building and replace it with a new state-of-the-art store roughly the same size as the previous one.

But an amended planning application, submitted in March, revealed parts of the original building will now be incorporated into the re-build.

Costs, and how much Morrisons can re-claim from their insurers, were the reasons behind the turn around.

As such the existing steel work and floor slab are to be retained, as is the service yard existing brick elevation.

When built, the new store will include a bakers, butchers, fishmongers and florist, as well as clothing from the Nutmeg range.

On offer will also be a wider range of groceries, including the Health and Wellbeing range and the Free From range.

Key cutting and dry cleaning services will also be present, with Amazon lockers installed for customers to collect their online shopping.

The team at Morrisons say they want the new build to be complete and open before Christmas this year.

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