Family of Manchester bombing victim Saffie find new owners for The Plaice chip shop

The Plaice was the scene was a sea of floral tributes to Saffie Roussos in the days following the bombing

Saffie's star is raised over her hometown of Leyland

Saffie, eight, died after attending the Ariana Grande concert at Manchester Arena with her mother and sister last year.

Her family owned The Plaice chip shop in Hough Lane, Leyland, for six years but decided to sell up after the tragedy.

The new owners are husband and wife Paul and Joanne Shannon, who come from Leyland.

Saffie’s father Andrew Roussos sold the business with the help of Mike Swanson, a family friend, who owns SOS Computing in nearby Newsome Street.

Mike said the business deal went through last Wednesday.

He added: “The Roussos family would like to wish Mr and Mrs Shannon every success and all the very best.”

The Roussos family arrived in this country from Cyprus and owned a clothes shop. They moved to Leyland in 2012 and took over the chip shop.

It had been hoped the new owners would rename the shop Saffie’s Plaice, as a tribute to the eight-year-old girl, but the name will not change.

Paul said: “We’re going to keep it as it is. Throughout the process we’ve been in contact with the family. We asked that question because there had been discussions predominantly on social media with people saying it should be Saffie’s Plaice, but when we put that to the family, that wasn’t in fact their wish.”The couple said they saw the chip shop as a business opportunity.

“Purely and simply as that, really,” said Paul. “Obviously it’s going to see the shop open again, that’s the main thing. When we made the initial inquiry there was a lot of interest, the fact we were from Leyland probably had something with us getting it.”

Paul said he would continue in his line of work, managing leisure facilities, and Joanne will run the shop, which is expected to reopen mid to late February.