Cockermouth's New Bookshop will have to move out of its premises for up to six months.

The entire shop and cafe has to refurbished following the floods and will close tomorrow. 

But owner Catherine Hetherington is keen to keep a presence in the town. 

She said: "We are looking at relocating temporarily or having a pop-up shop. It would be really nice to have that continuity."

It has also had one piece of good news this week - a £5,000 grant from a a bestselling thriller writer.

The Main Street shop has been given the money by American author James Patterson and will spend it on the children's section.

The latest grant will be combined with another grant of £1,000 which the shop received from Mr Patterson last year.

Mrs Hetherington said: "After the floods we had a big push and were able to open for the run-up to Christmas, which was good.

Our customers have been so kind and supportive. But now we have to start the next phases, it's a long haul and could possibly take six months.

"Everything has to be stripped out, including the slate floor at this stage."

Only a few slates have been lifted so far but water, which seeped in through the edges, is trapped underneath which means they will have to be taken up.

Mrs Hetherington added: "No one expected it to flood again so soon. While the water was only at three foot, as opposed to eight foot like last time, it caused the same amount of damage."

She had recently renewed the insurance so the shop is covered.

She added: "But we are concerned about the future and what we will face then in terms of insurance."