Business owners 'heartbroken' after retail units destroyed in Glasgow fire

Business owners have said they are "heartbroken" after dozens of retail units burnt to the ground during a fire in Glasgow.

More than 250 firefighters were called in to tackle the blaze that started in a vape shop on Sunday, before it engulfed the entire building on Union Corner next to Central Station.

The B-listed Victorian property was home to many independent businesses that have been left with nowhere to work from after the building collapsed.

Studios and expensive equipment were destroyed in the fire, and people have donate more than £20,000 to fundraisers to help deal with the financial impact.

First Minister John Swinney attended the scene on Monday and said the Scottish government would contribute financially to help the council.

But there is no clear recovery plan for local businesses yet.

Courtney MacKinnon has run a hairdressing business called Cece's Salon in the building for the past four years.

She told BBC Scotland News she had been left devastated by the destruction and does not know what the future will hold.

"It's really shocking, the amount of small businesses that are gone," she said.

"Everybody there works so hard, it's difficult for everyone. Everything seems to be gone."

Courtney was alerted to the news when a friend phoned her on Sunday night and said that the building had gone on fire after what sounded like an explosion.

It came the day after she had celebrated her fourth year in business.

"I thought I would have many more years there," she said. "I'd had friends and family over to celebrate.

"I've put everything into that space, so for all that to be gone is difficult – it's how I make a life."

She said there was still no information yet on when business owners could get back into the building.

Emma Taff, whose business Tafftastic Nails was based in the building, said: "It didn't feel real. It feels like I'm watching a film.

"It still doesn't feel real even today, I still feel like I'm going to go into work and it'll still be there. My hearts breaks for myself, and every other small business in the building."

She added: "Everyone lost a little bit of themselves [that] night.

"We will come back and we will be stronger, it's just going to take a little bit of time."

At the height of the incident, 18 fire engines and specialist resources, including a high-volume pump drawing water from the River Clyde, were deployed to the scene.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) said there were no reported casualties.

Glasgow Central Station, which is next to the damaged building, was closed on Sunday night and all trains to and from the station were cancelled on Monday and Tuesday.

ScotRail warned that disruption would continue for "several days".

SFRS confirmed a preliminary multi-agency investigation into the cause of the fire was underway, but it "cannot at this early stage speculate on what happened".

It warned the investigation could be hampered by the "significant damage".

Alessandro Varese, who owns the iconic Blue Lagoon chip shop on Gordon Street and neighbouring Sexy Coffee, said both were "completely destroyed".

He said another branch of Blue Lagoon on Argyle Street was closed due to smoke damage, while an office on the third floor of the Gordon Street building was also wrecked in the blaze.

Alessandro said he wanted all of the business owners in the block to "stick together" and rebuild.

"Initially we didn't panic too much, because we thought it was contained," he said.

"It was a shock. It was an anxious wait to see the total extent of the damage but as people will see, the building is almost completely destroyed and I suspect it will get flattened."

He added: "The good thing was that nobody got hurt. It's so important that we stick together, because it's such a prominent spot in the city that everybody comes together, to rebuild and reopen so we can all try and get back to business."

The housing and homelessness charity Shelter said their shop on Union Street had been "completely destroyed".

Shelter Scotland director Alison Watson said the charity was "heartbroken".

"Crucially, everyone who was in our Union Street shop is safe," she added.

"The shop was evacuated as soon as the alarm was raised, and our team are now being supported by colleagues."

Scott McNally at Lucky in Love Tattoos told BBC Scotland News that the building was just a shell after the fire.

He said he wanted to protect the eight self-employed tattoo artists that worked from his store.

"Thank god nobody got hurt, but we have lost four years of work," said Scott.

"There were so many irreplaceable designs and custom-made art work that has been destroyed.

"There is around £30,000 of equipment lost. We are already planning to find a new venue.

"I'm just trying to keep the fall out as limited as possible."

On Monday, the first minister said the government recognised that the fire was an "unexpected and extraordinary" incident in the city that would impact businesses that had lost their premises, or had just lost footfall since part of the city has been closed down.

He said the government would help with the recovery "to make sure we can get the city centre of Glasgow up-and-running as quickly as we can".