TOWN centre businesses were battling to rebuild their livelihoods after the devastation of the Grab City Arcade fire.

The blaze which destroyed the seafront attraction early on Monday morning left a massive clean-up operation for those nearby, some of whom were left with a drastic loss of business.

Immediately next door at the Pump and Trucheon pub, landlord Keith Slater rescued his family then had to set about rescuing his business.

Amid a devastation of flood water and smoke damage his only business in the early part of the week was from demolition men needing sandwiches and coffee.

"The place was awash with water," said Keith whose bar was lit up but unused. "Hopefully the industrial cleaners will be finished soon and we hope to be back to something like normal this weekend."

But he admitted that he was losing money every day as he could not trade normally.

On Monday he was roused at 12.30am and had to rush his girlfired Barbara Savage and children Stacey,15, and Shophie, 13, out of the building.

His bedroom directly overlooks the Grab City site.

"We were six feet away from disaster," he said.

"The flames were coming over the roof. We were lucky the wind changed."

The Pump and Truncheon is used regularly by police and firefighters.

"They use us for celebrations and leaving parties and we always try and suppor them," said Keith "So this time they were a big help to us."

There was another tale of financial loss from Norman Wallace who was one of the few people trading on the Bonny Street market to the rear of Grab City.

"It's one of the best week's of the year. It's the last holiday before Christmas and it's just gone," he said from his fast food stall.

"Because the road has been closed that's killed it off completely. We are open because otherwise there really is no reason for an yone to come down here."

The Oasis arcade next to Grab City was closed but, ironically, Funland on the other side was doing a roaring trade.

"At the moment we are the biggest tourist attraction in town," said manager Gary Fox.

"People are coming down here to see the damage and the weather is bad to they are coming in here. We are definitely busier because of it."

Another knock-on effect has been traffic snarl-ups in the town centre with no southbound traffic on the Promendade near the fire scene.

A Blackpool Council spokesman said that the restriction between Coral Island traffic light and the Chapel Street lights would saty until the area had been made safe.

They would also ensure that the hoarding around the site would be made as attractive as possible.

"The advice from Blackpool Council is that motorists should avoid the town centre area and take alternative routes."