SHOPPERS and neighbours are celebrating the opening of a replacement for a shopping precinct which was destroyed by fire two years ago.

The new Triangle Shops, in Langdon Hills, were officially opened by mayor Don Morris and MP Stephen Metcalfe in a ribbon cutting ceremony.

McColl’s convenience store was the first shop to reopen on the rebuilt parade earlier this month.

To celebrate the occasion, face painting and refreshments were on offer to visitors to the shops yesterday afternoon.

An electrical fault in the roof above a Chinese takeaway sparked a huge blaze in January 2013, destroying the original shopping parade.

Mr Morris said: “I think this has been a success of partnership - we have flats above the shops as well, which is good because we are less likely to have vandalism when there are people around.

“We had the fire but, if you forgive the pun, we have now got the phoenix rising from the ashes.”