A CHARITY is counting the cost of losing a shop and thousands of pounds worth of stock after fire gutted the premises.

Firefighters rushed to the St David’s Hospice Care store in a parade of new shops at Bulwark Road in Bulwark, Chepstow, on Saturday morning (Janary 18) around 11am.

The blaze swept through the store in a matter of seconds after an electrical fault caused the fire in a storeroom at the back of the shop.

Thankfully everyone managed to get out safely, including an Asda distribution centre nightworker who was asleep in a flat above the premises when the alarm was raised.

One woman, who was in the nearby Chatterbox coffee shop at the time, said they had heard something explode, which was the first they knew of the blaze.

St David’s chief executive Emma Saysell, who rushed from Cardiff to see the damage, said: “The shop has been destroyed, but I am just so very happy and relieved that none of my staff, customers or anyone else was injured in this truly awful fire.

“My manager said the fire took hold incredibly quickly and before very long the whole of the inside of the shop was ablaze.

“It’s a very popular shop with our customers who shop there and who also drop off a load of donations as it is easy to park.

“We had quite a bit of stock in the shop.”

Deputy chief executive of the charity, former Wales rugby star Adrian Hadley, who also visited the scene, said: “This is horrendous, the fire has completely gutted this shop.

“We have lost many thousands of pounds worth of stock in this fire and the shop, which only opened about seven years ago, will now have to be closed for quite some time.”

The nightworker was reportedly awoken by the fire alarm before his front door buzzer was rung by a firemen urging him to get out.

A spokesperson for South Wales Fire and Rescue, who attended the blaze alongside firefighters from Bristol, said: “At 11.02am on Saturday, January 18, we received reports of a fire in St Davids, Chepstow.

“Crews from Chepstow station attended the scene and successfully extinguished the fire.

“The incident concluded at approximately 12.25pm.”