THE butcher whose shop was swamped by mud and water in the North Yorkshire flash floods is back in business again, after people rallied round to help him get it reopened.

Brian Thompson today said he was "overwhelmed" by the help and kindness he had received from other people, both locally and further afield, saying: "It restores your faith in human nature, that people are willing to help each other when they are down."

Images of his stricken business, by the River Rye in Bridge Street, Helmsley, were flashed across the country following last weekend's flash floods.

The water left him with inches of stinking black silt carpeting both his home and business, spoiled £3,000-worth of cooked meat, and drowned 30 of his sheep.

"Basically the shop was under 18 inches of water on Monday morning," he said.

But Mr Thompson was able to start trading again yesterday morning, after getting help from "family, friends, friends of friends, and people I didn't know" to clear up the mess.

He also had support from businesses who supplied new equipment, and from local firm Thomas The Baker, which helped out by giving him space in its factory.

He had to get a completely new refrigeration unit in before he was able to start trading again.

Thanking all those who rallied round, Mr Thompson said: "I am overwhelmed by the support and generosity of people."

He said he had received a call from a butcher in Kensington to wish him well, and a cheque for £20 from a woman he did not know in Sowerby, near Thirsk.

Mr Thompson, who is also a town councillor, said he had been talking to local Tory MP John Greenway about ways to help those who, unlike himself, were not fully insured for the losses they had suffered in the floods.

One suggestion he was looking at was whether the Government would give exemption from VAT to people replacing items lost in the deluge.

"It has not been as concentrated as at Boscastle, but in the Rye Valley it has been as bad," he said.

Today he was due to meet the Lord Lieutenant of North Yorkshire, Lord Crathorne, in Bridge Street during a visit to the flood-hit areas of the county. Lord Crathorne was due to move from Helmsley to the village of Hawnby, then Boltby, Thirlby, and Sutton-under-Whitestonecliffe.

Updated: 10:38 Saturday, June 25, 2005