ONE of East Thurrock's familiar sights and sounds returned to a borough town centre this morning.

Thurrock Nub News was there to greet Scott Rodwell, his dad Paul and all the staff at Sunny Fruits in Corringham once more put out its stalls full of fresh fruit and veg, flowers, hanging baskets and bedding plants. See our video here.

The popular business which is situated on the entrance to the Grover Walk precinct off St John's Way has been closed for five weeks but owner Scott says everyone was chomping at the bit to get back, but they could only do it when the time – and the price – was right.

"Going into lockdown, other than a few members of our staff who might have had health issues, the reason we decided to shut our business down for the simple reason we could not compete with prices, which meant we would have had to charge prices that we have not charged during the 35 years that we have been in business.

"We decided to shut shop so it didn't look like we were taking advantage of our customers.

"However, now we are back and I would like to thank everyone for the welcome we have already had.

"Thank you everyone for supporting us and being patient. The messages of support I received while we were shut down have been overwhelming. It's lovely to see what an impact we have on a community.

"And it's lovely to be back and see the people that we serve."

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And another popular store is about to reopen in Stanford-le-Hope Read about it here.