A beauty salon based at the Mount Murray Hotel in Santon has managed to get up and running within nine days of the fire.
TIBI’s has found a temporary home in Castletown after the blaze, which destroyed the hotel’s accommodation block forced them to close.
Thanks to an offer from Loui’s Barbershop in Arbory Street, Casteltown, TIBI’s has been able to quickly get back on its feet, albeit six miles down the road.
Salon owner Pat Blake was in New York celebrating her 50th birthday when she received the initial bad news.
‘Once I knew my team – Rose O’Hanlan and Holly Dury – were safe my reaction was “life as I know it has ended”,’ she recalled.
‘Only 10 days earlier we’d celebrated our 10th anniversary at TIBI, so to get that call was devastating. I just couldn’t see how we’d be able to stay in business. But then came another call, and everything changed.’
The call was from her friend Ruth Hansbury, owner of Loui’s Barbershop in Castletown.
‘Ruth and I had worked together in the past and as soon as she’d heard about the fire, she called to invite us to come and join her in Castletown and set up temporary premises,’ explained Mrs Blake.
‘I flew home from New York and we set about salvaging what we could from the fire and phoning all our clients so we could get the salon up and running as soon as possible. And Ruth’s tremendous generosity combined with the blood, sweat and tears of Rose, Holly and so many other loved ones and friends meant we could open up for business again.
‘The following weekend we set about transforming the downstairs space so it became “truly TIBI” once more. Everyone pitched in, refitting and redecorating, so now it’s fair to say TIBI really has risen from the ashes.
‘To be back in business so soon is testimony not only to the sheer determination and hard work of so many amazing friends and colleagues but also to the loyalty of our clients who have faithfully followed us to Castletown.
‘We’re enormously grateful to them for their support and we can now look forward to celebrating TIBI’s 11th anniversary with them, something a few weeks ago I never thought we’d be able to do.’