A BAKERY hit by a major fire is on course to meet a tight target for reopening later this month.

Production ceased at Peter's Cathedral Bakers following the blaze that gutted its Dragonville Industrial Estate headquarters in Durham on April 25.

The fire has resulted in all 71 of the family-firm's chain of shops, from Northumberland to North Yorkshire, remaining closed in the fortnight since the blaze.

While police, fire and insurance experts sift through the remains at the Dragonville site to discover the cause, round-the-clock efforts are under way to switch production to a temporary base in the vacant former Hibernia Foods factory, in Peterlee, east Durham.

All 700 full and part-time staff have been assured their jobs are safe and are being fully paid while the work continues.

The company hopes to resume production by the weekend of May 22/23 after hastily fitting out the Peterlee plant with bakery ovens and other equipment, "begged, borrowed and bought" at short notice across the country.

Retail sales and business development manager Alan Dixon said last night the target remained to reopen the 71 outlets with a full range products by Monday May 24.

"We are working flat-out fitting out the Peterlee site. It looks like the Normandy landing sites.

"We're shipping in equipment by the lorry load. I've been down today and there are container loads of equipment arriving.

"We've had some kind offers of help from within the bakery industry since the fire to help us out of our plight.

"There a big refusbishment going on as we speak, with re-wiring taking place and we hope to be able to test bake there next week, before going into full production over that weekend."

A meeting of senior staff will take place next Wednesday to bring workers up to date with the recovery plan.

The company also plans a big publicity drive in the lead up to the re-opening of shops to let the public know it will be business as usual from May 24.