Office workers have been queuing with bomb survivors at a new fast food takeaway on the site of the IRA attack at Canary Wharf 16 years ago which has been opened by the brother of one of the two men killed in the blast.

Ihsan Bashir, whose brother Inam died with co-worker John Jeffries, has opened his Baguette Express where a newsagent’s once stood in South Quay that took the full force of the explosion.

Staff from nearby offices queued with survivors from the attack which wrecked the business district and devastated Millwall’s Barkantine Estate in February, 1996.

“I’m overwhelmed with all those who expressed their support,” said Ihsan. “It’s heart-warming knowing that all those who knew Inam and John came here.”

Jonathan Ganesh, a former Canary Wharf security guard injured in the attack along with 50 others, was among those in the queue. He led a Docklands Victims’ Association delegation to the Foreign Office in Whitehall last week with IRA victims from Northern Ireland to hear about latest developments in negotiations with the Libyan authorities.

Victims’ organsations in east London and Belfast have been campaigning for compensation for Gaddafi’s sponsorship of the IRA during the 1990s. Libya’s interim government says it is ready to discuss compensation with them.