A devastated businessman who watched his family firm go up in flames as a massive inferno tore through it has vowed to rebuild his ruined premises.
Alessandro Varese, who owns Glasgow’s iconic Blue Lagoon fish and chip shop and the neighbouring Sexy Coffee shop on Union Street, has been left ‘gutted’ after an intense blaze inflicted serious damage on his premises on Sunday night.
The fierce fire is believed to have started in a vape shop before consuming the 19th century building above it and spreading through the same structure onto Gordon Street.
The towering blaze caused the building’s structure to collapse, with only its façade left intact on Monday morning.
Alessandro, who runs the well-known Blue Lagoon chain with his brothers Simone and Gianluca, said both of his family’s businesses had been destroyed, but revealed they would rebuild no matter how long it took.
The 33-year-old, who is originally from Greenock and now lives in Wemyss Bay, said: "We are absolutely devasted, we are gutted and in total shock.
"It is totally destroyed and it is an absolute disaster.
“But we are now trying to assess what the damage and what now needs to happen.
"All we know at the moment there is that it seems to have started in the vape shop.
"But I promise we will come back, we will rebuild and it will be bigger and better. We need to get all the stakeholders in the area together and figure out where we go from here."
As well as affecting the Varese family’s businesses, the fire is also understood to have impacted a large number of local hair salons, as well as several nail and beauty salons.
The Blue Lagoon was started by Alessandro’s Italian grandfather Ersilio Varese who moved to Scotland in the 1960s and opened up his first two fish and chip shop shortly thereafter.
Together with his son Angelo they gradually built up the business, opening up shops in Glasgow and Greenock's West Blackhall Street.
Angelo then brought his own sons Simone, Alessandro, and Gianluca on board.
The hugely respected businessman Ersilio who latterly lived in Wemyss Bay, died in 2002, but his legacy lives on through his family and the firms he left behind.
FIRE LATEST: It's a nightmare my full life burned down in Glasgow Union Street fire
FIRE LATEST: Several roads reopen after fire on Glasgow's Union Street
FIRE LATEST: Shocking images show Union Street fire aftermath near Glasgow Central
Alessandro added: "We would like to thank everyone for their support, all our friends and family who have rallied round us. This means everything to us."
As well as running the Blue Lagoon, the brothers have a chain of eateries including the Sexy Coffee shop, which opened three years ago in Union Street and was also completely destroyed in Sunday’s fire.
Sexy Coffee chief executive Gianluca Varese said: "We are devastated by what has happened and are still very much in shock.
"The fire has destroyed our coffee shop at Central Station and it has been incredibly upsetting for everyone involved.
“However, we want to reassure our customers that we will deal with this. Our focus now will be on rebuilding the shop and reopening to the public as soon as we possibly can.
“We would also like to thank all of our customers for their continued support. In the meantime, our branch on Argyle Street remains open and we look forward to welcoming people there."
We previously reported that a scammer is trying to take advantage of kind-hearted Glaswegians looking to donate to Sexy Coffee.
A fake fundraising page has surfaced, claiming to support Sexy Coffee, a business destroyed in the blaze that tore through Union Street on Sunday.
