Businesses hit by looting are on the road to recovery exactly one month after riots spread to south London.

Lambeth Council has offered shop owners reductions on their business rates to compensate for lost sales and has held advice sessions for anyone affected by looting.

Streatham town centre manager Angelina Purcell said she had been working with small business owners to make sure they survived the unrest.

She said: "There are lots of positive things on the horizon for Streatham. We are not going to let a minority of people affect us."

Maveed Azam, who runs the S&G Food and News convenience store in Streatham High Road, said he and his brother had worked tirelessly to repair the damage to his shop, after looters broke in on August 8.

The shop owner, who returned to work just days after the attack, said he was not nervous about further attacks despite being hit over the head with a brick by the hooded gang during the looting.

He said he was waiting to hear whether he will be compensated by his insurance provider.

He said: "It is in your mind for some time when these things happen, but now hopefully everything will be alright."

Oli Osibo, owner of nearby Computer Mobile Services, which was looted on the same night, hopes to have his repairs on his shop completed by the end of September. He said the council had given him a discount on his business rates after thugs stole more than £10,000 of electrical goods.

He said: "We take each day as it comes. Our customers have been very good. In the week after it happened, it was extremely busy. The community has been great."

But Mussarat Umer, who owns the Multi Service Centre in Streatham Hill, said her business had suffered heavily since looters ransacked her shop, stealing more than £5,000 of laptops.

She said: "Since the riots we have had very little business. We were worried when Notting Hill was going on.

"Someone said they had burned a police car and I thought, ‘Oh my god, I hope it doesn’t happen again’."