The grieving family of Saffie Roussos, the youngest victim of the Manchester terror attack, is being forced to sell their chip shop.
The Roussos family are now hoping the new owner of their Leyland shop, formerly known as The Plaice, will rename the business Saffie’s Plaice in honour of the eight-year-old who lost her life on May 22.
Saffie was the youngest person to die in the Manchester Arena attack following an Ariana Grande concert. Her mother, who had accompanied her to the arena, is still receiving medical treatment.
In the aftermath of the attack, hundreds of local Leylanders laid flowers and pink balloons outside The Plaice in tribute to the little girl.
But according to a family friend, Mike Swanson, 38, the Roussos family is finding running the takeaway ‘increasingly hard’ after ‘life has changed for them’.
Swanson, who owns neighbouring business SOS Computing, is helping Saffie’s father Andrew with the sale.
Mike told theManchester Evening News:
It was discussed last week and Andrew wanted me to help him do it. We want it to go to a good family and to take over the management.
It would be stupid to not name it Saffie’s Plaice, as people in the area now call it that already. All of the regulars knew her and the customers know her.
They lived above the shop, I will miss them. My girls and his children played on the front all of the time – we do miss them.
This comes after it as announced £250,000 will be given to the next of kin of each of the 22 victims to help ease the financial burden at this time of great emotional strain.
Ariana Grande also hosted the One Love concert which will go down in history for its philanthropic endeavours; a showcase of music’s ability to unite people after tragedy.
Last month hundreds of balloons were released outside the parade of shops in the Lancashire town to mark what would have been Saffie’s ninth birthday.
Saffie’s funeral took place at Manchester Cathedral on July 26 and was attended by hundreds of mourners.
Our thoughts go out to all those affected by the devastating events.
A former emo kid who talks too much about 8Chan meme culture, the Kardashian Klan, and how her smartphone is probably killing her. Francesca is a Cardiff University Journalism Masters grad who has done words for BBC, ELLE, The Debrief, DAZED, an art magazine you’ve never heard of and a feminist zine which never went to print.