A motorcycle repair shop which was destroyed by fire last summer is back in business after a torrid ten months for its owners.

MPH, in Dolphin Road, Shoreham, had been in business for just eight months when it was hit by fire on July 4.

In the month before the fire the 1,000sqft shop had taken £12,000, compared with just £500 in its first four weeks of trading. Four motorcycles were wrecked in the fire and thousands of pounds' worth of tools and testing equipment ruined.

Two days later thieves broke into the factory, which was by then not secure, and stole two more motorbikes, tools and tyres.

The fire was classified as accidental - probably caused by a discarded cigarette butt - but owner Adrian Chrobok still thinks arsonists were to blame.

Adrian, 38, said: "Unless you want to drag your claim through the courts, and unless you can prove it, it is easier to just accept it was accidental.

"But I don't smoke and I was the last person out of the building that night so I have always had my suspicions."

Since the blaze Adrian and long-term business partner Kevin Twine have begged and borrowed to get the business going again.

Adrian, who has two children, remortgaged his house in Ham Road, Worthing, to raise the capital while the insurance claim was processed.

"It has been a pretty bad ten months. All I have been doing is chasing insurance companies and trying to keep the bank happy.

"Sometimes I have been doing absolutely nothing, which has probably been the most frustrating part of it.

"It feels fantastic to be back in business but I am not sure we could handle another run of bad luck. We just need a smooth ride now.

"In the space of about eight months we had acquired about 250 customers and a lot of them have stayed loyal to us." MPH - which stands for Motorcycle Performance House - has an open-plan workshop so customers can watch their bikes being repaired.

Adrian said: "I think people trust us. They can see their oil filters being changed, for example, because of the layout." Adrian and Kevin grew up together and went to the same schools, Storrington Primary and Steyning Grammar.

Thursday April 15, 2004