Boss of Glasgow vape store the place prepare station inferno began is ‘in grief’ after companies ‘misplaced every little thing’ in blaze that broke out from ‘chargers underneath counter’
The owner of the vape shop near Glasgow train station where a fire broke out before devastating a historic building has said he is ‘in grief’.
Business owners lost ‘everything’ when the inferno collapsed a Victorian block on Union Street, and rail passengers have been blighted by the ongoing full closure of Glasgow Central. Nearby hotels were evacuated and roads were sealed off.
Vape shop boss Arslan Ali told the Daily Mail ‘it shouldn’t have happened’ and that he is ‘standing with all’ in the wake of the blaze, which is claimed to have begun under his shop’s counter.
Mr Ali added that the episode was ‘hurtful’ and ‘disappointing’, but declined to comment any further as he was ‘not in a position to talk’.
An MSP compared the scale of damage to the treasured Victorian building, which housed a number of small businesses across its four floors, with that of ‘the Blitz’.
A tattoo studio within the devastated block, Lucky in Love Tattoos, was said to have been reduced entirely to ‘rubble’.
Owner Scott Martin McAnally, 29, learned the sickening news about the fire while hundreds of miles away on an island north of Scotland.
He told the Mail: ‘I was sitting in the pub and the guys put in the group chat that there was some smoke coming round the corner.
The inferno engulfed a B-listed Victorian building on Union Street, very near Glasgow Central Station
A four-floor building housing a number of small businesses collapsed in on itself, leaving the owners with nothing
A video posted to social media shows a cloud of black smoke streaming out of the vape shop before the fire ripped through the entire building
‘Then an hour later they were like “oh there’s a fire above that place now”. Every hour it was just getting worse and worse until the evening and we just saw fire coming out the windows.’
He said: ‘I just bought my first house a few months ago and we found out my wife is pregnant last month and we are renovating the house so I kind of thought I was having my really busy and difficult year already, so this is the last thing I need.
‘I don’t think it’s properly sunk in yet, I sort of just jumped straight into problem-solving mode.
‘I’m ok in a crisis. I’m just trying to make sure everyone else is alright and then I can be sad about it later on once there are some solutions in place.’
Mr McAnally is trying to catch a flight to Glasgow, having been unable to yesterday evening, where he will meet with his ‘best friend’ and owner of neighbouring parlour Hundred Demons Duncan Sweeney, before heading to Union Street to assess the damage in person.
Beauty parlour owner Sam Hendry, 32, told the Daily Record ‘everything has been wiped out’.
She has estimated she had lost £15,000 in the fire – and is now borrowing cash from family members to rebuild her S’Amuse Studio business.
She said: ‘I have lost absolutely everything – everything has been wiped out. I built my studio from the ground up.’
Meanwhile, Carina McCreery had only opened her Hard As Gels nail bar four months ago, and says she will now ‘have to do it all over again’.
A passerby who bravely attempted to stop the blaze before it spread through the buildings revealed it originated in a ‘bank of chargers under the counter’.
Lamin Kongira, 42, said he was walking along Union Street when he saw smoke pouring from the vape shop and someone fleeing through the door shouting ‘fire, fire’.
Lamin Kongira was walking along Union Street in Glasgow on Sunday afternoon when he saw smoke coming from the vape shop
The vape shop on Union Street in Glasgow pictured before the fire destroyed it and the rest of the building
He rushed to fetch a fire extinguisher, but was forced to retreat from the smoldering shop as explosions rang out.
Mr Kongira, who is originally from Gambia but has worked as a chef in the city since 2009, told the BBC: ‘I ran into the shop and I saw a small fire under the counter.’
He explained there was an adapter charging system, full of charges, which was the source of the burning.
He continued: ‘I had to run out quickly to go next door, where there’s a Subway. That’s where I grabbed this firefighting thing.
‘But unfortunately, that finished and it could not stop it. When the first explosion comes, that’s when I knew I couldn’t control it anymore.’
After a number of bangs, Mr Kongira withdrew onto the street and shouted at passersby to ‘get back’ at which point he said another, more powerful explosion went off.
He reported suffering headaches from smoke inhalation after his running inside the vape shop. as a result of the blast.
Mr Kongira said he wanted to act as he often uses Central Station and it is ‘monumental’ to him, adding: ‘A structure like that contributed to my living in Glasgow.’
People standing watching at the edge of the police cordon on Monday spoke of their shock.
Emma Reid, from Glasgow, said: ‘It’s just so sad. It’s such an iconic building. It’s so sad.’
Carolyn Bowie stopped to watch as her son was one of the firefighters tackling the blaze on Monday morning, having started his shift at 8am.
She said: ‘It’s devastating and a big blow for Glasgow.’
The Victorian building, designed by architect James Brown of the firm Brown & Carrick, was built in 1851 and pre-dated the station.
Flames spread through the building on Sunday in scenes that one MSP likened to the ‘Blitz’
A drone image shows firefighters spraying jets of water over the smoldering building in the Scottish city
Firefighters damp down the remains of a fire which broke out in a building adjacent to Glasgow Central railway station
The Money Shop and Wimpy once operated out of the same unit which caught on fire before it was a vape shop.
According to title deeds obtained by the Daily Mail, the building is part of several neighbouring outlets owned by property firm Afton Estates Limited, which paid £540,000 for the block in 2008.
A planning application lodged with Glasgow City Council in September 2024 to convert the unit into a hot-food takeaway was rejected last December.
Companies House documents show Michael and Kenna Tasker are listed as directors of Afton Estates.
Mr Tasker is also listed as a director of the Royal Forth Yacht Club, one of the world’s oldest yacht clubs whose patron is Princess Anne.
He was commodore when the club organised a Parade of Sail to mark the late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
The Daily Mail has attempted to contact the Taskers and Afton Estates Limited for comment.
Hairdresser Joe Diaz, 33, also had his business in the block, and was with a client and his partner when flames began to engulf the building.
He said the trio decided to ‘run and get out of here’ when they started seeing thick smoke spreading.
Mr Diaz’s was not insured and he is raising money online towards setting up a new salon.
He told how he, his partner and the client, fled about 10 minutes after the fire began, saying: ‘We were right at the edge of getting out of there in time.’
He said: ‘The first floor was fully covered in smoke. That was really scary.’
Hairdresser Joe Diaz was one of many businesses that were lost in the blaze. He told how he fled the building alongside his partner and a client as the smoke began to spread
A female police officer is spotted wearing a facemask at the scene of a devastating fire in Glasgow
As they moved down through the building, they saw ‘really heavy, dark smoke’.
He said: ‘We just got our client and said, let’s just run and get out of here as soon as we can.’
The client was ‘paralysed by anxiety’, he said, but they made it out of the building and saw smoke pouring out of the vape shop.
Initially, the fire appeared to be contained and Mr Diaz left to get a cup of tea, but when he returned, he was confronted with a ‘heartbreaking’ scene as the flames had spread and the building was collapsing.
He said: ‘It was heartbreaking. Of course, it’s your business, you have a lot of business stuff.
‘But you take very emotional stuff with you to work – things that have a lot of sentimental value.’
Mr Diaz, who is originally from Chile, has set up a crowdfunding page on GoFundMe, asking for help to ‘rebuild our little studio after the fire’.
It said: ‘As many of you may already know, our little studio has burned down, taking with it five years of dreams, hard work, and love.
‘We all sometimes think about the three things we’d grab in an emergency but, in a moment like this, you realise none of that really matters.
‘Everything happened so quickly. By pure chance, I happened to be on the phone looking out into the street when I saw the smoke starting to rise.
‘Otherwise, we would have been inside the studio with the door closed, just as we usually are. It’s impossible not to think about what could have happened.’
Downing Street paid tribute to the bravery of firefighters who dealt with the blaze.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: ‘Clearly, this has been a devastating incident for Glasgow, the loss of historic buildings that have dominated the city centre for so long. Our thoughts also go to those who have lost businesses and livelihoods.’
Firefighters wearing breathing apparatus are pictured near the remains of the partially collapsed historic building
A fire at a vape shop on Union Street in Glasgow has left a Victorian building nothing but a pile of rubble
Labour MSP Paul Sweeney said there are now concerns for the viability of the remainder of the building.
He told BBC Radio Scotland’s Breakfast programme: ‘There’s the cafe, there’s the Blue Lagoon (chip shop), of course, which is famous for many Glaswegians.
‘It’s been completely wiped out, destroyed. I mean the building is a gutted shell. It looks like something out of the Blitz.
‘I spoke to building control officers last night on site. They don’t have much hope that the building can be saved at all.
‘We wait and see what their final decisions are, but it sounds like the remaining facade onto Gordon Street is likely to have to come down, unfortunately.’
Glasgow’s Union Street station, situated just a few yards away from the commercial building, was evacuated and closed off on Sunday, sparking travel chaos across Scotland’s biggest city.
The station was closed today with all journeys which were set to arrive, depart or travel through Glasgow Central cancelled or revised with some replacement services in place.
National Rail said the station is likely to remain shut on Tuesday.
A spokesperson for Network Rail said: ‘Timescales for reopening will only be confirmed once we are able to safely gain access and carry out the necessary checks.
‘All services to and from Glasgow Central are currently suspended, and passengers should continue to follow alternative travel arrangements as advised by their train operators.
‘We will provide further updates as soon as more information is available.’
