A successful tea shop owner is bidding to save a well-established pet shop which has deteriorated in recent times because of the previous owner’s poor health.

Ila Gamble, the owner of Ila's Little Tea Shoppe on Trinity Walk, Nottingham, hopes to restoreneighbouring business Kaye's Pet Centre back to its former glory. The pet shop has been running since 1946.

Ila told her local newspaper, the Nottingham Post: "The previous owner put a sign in the window saying he wanted someone to take over the business. We had no money whatsoever because all our money went into the tea shop but they just wanted to someone to take over.

"I believe that it was brought to me for a reason. The owner said that he would be happy for us to have and keep it in the walk.

"We wanted to bring it back as a pet shop because so many people have a lot of memories here."

Ila and her husband Darren have plans to renovate the space to improve the welfare of the animals on sale as well as the services they offer.

The couple will be doing a number of renovations, including better cages for the rabbits, an aviary for the birds and improved tanks for the fish.

Ila is also planning to rename the shop Ila's Little Pet Shoppe in line with her tea shop.

Read the full Nottingham Post story by clicking here