Sir.–As readers will be aware from the recent coverage in The Gazette, we had a major fire at Cottismore Garden Centre just before Christmas.

The fire was contained within the aquatics and reptiles room but the damage spread across the whole of the main garden centre building.

I am pleased to confirm that all customers and staff were quickly led to safety, however, we were very sad to lose almost all of the reptiles and fish.

I would like to say thank you to everyone in the local community who has offered their support in helping us to rebuild the business we’ve worked so hard to build up for the past year.

I can assure all of our long-term and new customers that we’re doing everything we can to come back stronger than before, and have in fact already re-opened the garden centre, albeit with limited stock and services available.

Prestige Aquatics and Cottismore Garden Centre are both just over one year old and are run by local people who are passionate about building strong and successful businesses that support local producers and customers. We are focused on finding the positives from this setback, and hope you will continue to support us throughout 2013.

–Richard Haines, Director, Cottismore Garden Centre, Newbury Road, Kingsclere.