A CHARITY shop gutted by fire in an arson attack has lost its entire stock of donations and is likely to be closed for several weeks.

Staff and volunteers at Age UK in the town centre have been left devastated by the fire which was started about four hours after a break in early on Sunday.

Firefighters from four stations attended the blaze and were there for two hours. A fire service spokesman confirmed it had been started deliberately.

The stock room and the back part of the building has been left gutted, and while little damage is visible from the front, the shop has suffered extensive smoke damage, and area manager Stacey Adams fears the entire contents of the shop will have to be thrown away.

“It’s just devastating,” she said. “It feels all the more sad when it’s a charity shop. Not just because it hurts a charity, but because these are all things that people have generously donated.”

Read more in this weeks Barnsley Chronicle