BUCKLAND’S fire-wrecked pharmacy will be back in full working action on Wednesday after nearly a month of disruption.

Thousands of customers were inconvenienced by the upheaval in the wake of July’s blaze which put most of the estate’s shopping mall out of action.

A special portable unit has now been installed at the site of the old primary school off Sandringham Road to accommodate clients who since the catastrophe have relied on a fractured facility roping in Buckland Surgery and Watcombe Pharmacy in Torquay.

The burnt-out pharmacy premises in Haldon Rise are not expected to rise from the ashes till the early part of next year.

All six members of the old pharmacy team will be operating from the new base.

Pharmacy Superintendent Sian Retallick said everyone had worked hard to keep the show on the road since the July 22 disaster.

‘We’ve actually been up and running since the Monday after the fire. It’s been a brilliant effort – and has worked very well in the circumstances. There has been a lot of good work to maintain the service.’

The fire started in Goodies Fish Bar and quickly spread to the Town and Country Laundrette and Chesters Coffee.

All remain out of action, as does the Post Office which – it’s hoped – may be the next business to be resurrected.

Cllr Gordon Hook welcomed the pharmacy’s return to Buckland – and expressed the hope the Post Office would soon follow suit as a vitally needed service on the estate.

Damage running into thousands of pounds was caused by the blaze which needed 30 firefighters to knock it out.

Sian Retallick admitted it had been ‘very difficult’ to cope in the aftermath of the incident – but everyone had rallied round. All efforts, from so many quarters, had been appreciated.