A MUSIC shop in York has had to restart its flood repairs and scrap the reopening date - but owners have used the delay to improve their online presence.

MOR Music, in Franklin's Yard, off Fossgate, was badly affected by the Boxing Day floods, and owners Lynne and Phil O'Dea had to get rid of about £75,000 worth of stock, with the salvage value of some £300 guitars estimated at just £3 following contact with contaminated floodwater.

Repair work has been underway for months, and the walls and carpets were finished and the shop was almost ready to be refitted, until the couple found another problem last week.

Lynne said: "It's shocking, just when you think it's done and all over. The quality of work was fantastic, it was absolutely perfect. We just started to notice a few damp patches coming through."

As the damp spread, workers have now said they will have to rip out parts of each wall in the building, to heights of between 1.5 and 1.8 metres, and start again.

York Press:

The shop shortly after the floods

Phil said: "I'm reasonably pragmatic about it. It's no-ones fault it's happened and pointless getting upset we have got to make the best of it. We've still got no idea when we can reopen, that's the most frustrating thing, because we can't plan anything."

However, since the shop was forced to close, Phil has worked from 8am to 8pm most days to improve and update the shop's website - mormusic.co.uk - which is now receiving thousands more visitors each week than previously.

He said: "In a small way it's been a blessing, because we've had chance to take stock of how we do things online. We're probably on target to become one of the largest online traders of this kind in the UK.

"Online was okay to start with, but mostly about information, like a shop window open 24-hours a day. I've spent about six months putting in a more sophisticated infrastructure, and we've gone from having a couple of hundred products on there to a couple of thousand, with more going on every day."

While the in-store work has been set back by upwards of three months, the couple remain optimistic, and have thanked their customers for their support.

Phil said: "We can't come back in until it's 100 per cent dry, because the guitars will soak it up. We'll be back, hopefully in time for Christmas. That would be the best timing now, but hopefully without the water."