A Blackburn florist said her ‘faith in humanity has been restored’ after the outpouring of goodwill from neighbours after her shop had its windows smashed.

Ewood Florist, on Bolton Road opposite Blackburn Rovers' stadium, also had paint thrown across the front of the shop in the early hours of Thursday morning.

Tubs of paint were strewn across the pavement during the incident which happened just before 4am.

Staff hurried to the shop in the morning and began cleaning up ahead of the store's 15th anniversary.

Police said they are investigating the incident.

Debra Schofield said the local community had been ‘magnificent’.

She said: “Everyone has pitched in and helped and we are taken in by the amount of support we received.

“It was shocking and horrible at what has happened.

“A glass company came out within 20 minutes to make the shop secure and we have school kids dropping off chocolates for us. The council team was quickly out to clean the paint from the front and the pavement

"A lot of people have been down to see if they can help in any way.

“The whole community has been amazing.”

The store is celebrating its 15th anniversary and offered special cakes to all customersThe shop front display is one of the brightest in Blackburn with drivers passing it daily as they head to and from Darwen.

Debra said the shop remained open during Halloween and they would not let the incident spoil their special day.

She said: “We never closed and we want to let people know we are running as normal.

“We have dressed the shop at the front as best we could.

“We had Halloween decorations up and the Remembrance display that is due to go up will take place when the new glass is fitted.”

The store still held its 15th anniversary celebrations on Friday offering customers cakes and a drink.

Debra added: “We have carried and we have been busy with people coming in.”

Debra said she wanted to mention local businesses for their support thanking, ‘Lib for the early warning, Abigail for the coffee and breakfast, Leavers for the amazing bag of goodies for our lunch, BRG for coming out and boarding us up in super fast time and the Paint Station for the offer of paint remover.’