Large scale move

Gary Barlow gets ready for the big move.

A PET store faces all hands on deck as it prepares for an overnight operation to move around 2,000 fish to their new home.

Fishworld Aquarium, on Middleton Road, Chadderton, will be in a race against time to fin-ish transporting the animals for their reopening on Easter Monday when they close up shop from the current premises on Easter Sunday.

The store’s manager Andy Midgley revealed each fish — ranging from tropical to coldwater life — will be individually bagged and boxed up safely to travel a stone’s throw away to the former Harlequin pub, on Middleton Road.

Mr Midgley hopes everything will run swimmingly.

He said: “We cannot afford to close for a day as Easter is one of the busiest times of the year for us. We were due to open on Saturday, but the weather has prevented that.

“So we are closing at 4pm on Sunday and reopening at 10am the following morning. New tanks have been in the new premises for the past few months to mature as the fish will have to go straight in them. We will be moving every fish meticulously from goldfish to coral fish. It will be quite a night to move them all, but we have drafted help in.”

The new premises is approximately three times bigger than the current premises, which has been home to the business for the past 32 years.