A dry cleaners has re-opened 54 weeks after a fire ripped through the floor above it - and then its owner discovered he had a brain tumour.

One morning in December 2017 Nailsworth residents awoke to find that the building containing both the Balti Spice on the top floors and Russells Dry Cleaning on the bottom had gone up in the flames.

The blaze ended up consuming the building’s roof - and, while the flames did not reach downstairs, water used to extinguish the fire flooded Russells.

“When we could go back in afterwards, the smell was horrible. The water had made the place completely stink of smoke,” said Rupert Russell, who took on the dry-cleaning business from his dad.

“It just had to be gutted.”

Any damage from then, however, is now undetectable - the cleaners re-opened its doors just before Christmas and Rupert took the opportunity for a revamp.

Returning customers will have first noticed the new sign outside, before walking in to find a fresh coat of paint.

New machines have also been installed, including a dedicated one for duvets, something the Russells had to outsource before.

But, if repairing a burnt out business was not enough, Rupert has had to grapple with illness before re-opening.

In the summer after the fire, while out cycling with his son, Rupert suddenly blacked out.

“I came to in the ambulance. I had no idea it was actually me that had been hurt - I instantly feared it was my son!”

Once at the hospital and after scans, doctors told Rupert he had a brain tumour.

“Turns out I had a lump the size of a golf ball in my head the whole time. I had no idea.”

Rupert was soon in surgery and, because the tumour was benign, he has no lasting effects, except for a scar.

And except a temporary reliance on buses - the operation means Rupert must wait a while before driving again.

But, like the fire, he has made the best of that too - Rupert, also a professional photographer, has been taken to strolling round Stroud for a street photography book, out in the autumn.