IT will be Paradise Regained for drinkers when a blaze-hit working men's club re-opens tonight.

Fire swept the Paradise WMC in Burnley, gutting the games room and lounge and causing more than £130,000 damage a month ago.

Since then, contractors have been working flat out to get the 97-year-old club back in business.

And tonight they reach their first goal when the main concert room re-opens for the 330 members.

That will bring back seven-days-a-week opening at the social centre off Colne Road, with beer flowing again, bingo and concerts.

"It will be good to get going again," says club secretary, Clifford Bradbury.

But it will be some time before the single-storey club is back in full use.

Mr Bradbury says the games room and lounge are being completely rebuilt and it is likely to be the end of September before that work is finished.

Since the blaze, Paradise members have been welcomed at the neighbouring Byerden House Socialist Club.

"We are very grateful for the help they have given us," said Mr Bradbury, "but our members are looking forward to going back to their own club."

The fire at the centre - built in the 1960s on the site of the original club - is believed to have been started by a carelessly discarded cigarette.

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