Jeya Kumar’s shop suffered £30,000 worth of damage in Monday night’s riots.

The owner of Best Foods in London Road, which has been there for 21 years, said his staff had to work night and day to reopen on Wednesday.

He said: “We have 12 staff who worked all through Tuesday to repair the damage.”

Mr Kumar said they wanted to open to help the community but were still shaken by the events of Monday night.

He said: “We are still scared any time we see 10 or 15 people.”

The 50-year-old sad lots of local people had come in to offer their support and congratulate them for reopening so soon.

He also met David Cameron when the Prime Minister came to visit on Tuesday.

Mr Kumar said: “I told him about the damage. He just said sorry.”

The thieves took all the alcohol and cigarettes in the store as well as two tills.

They also got upstairs and took the CCTV system and two laptops.

Mr Kumar said the police had come at about 1.30am on Tuesday but by that time the damage had been done.

He also owns Londis in London Road, which was completely gutted by fire and remains cordoned off by police.