A number of businesses have been hit hard by a blaze which tore through a derelict building in the Shawlands area on Tuesday evening.
Firefighters raced to Kilmarnock Road at around 7pm to find the former White Elephant cinema up in flames on July 11. Crews battled overnight to put out the fire with over 40 firefighters and nine appliances sent to the scene.
It's understood that the fire, which is being treated by police as 'wilful', was brought under control around 5.47am on Wednesday morning (July 12) and a police presence remained at the scene, after 9am.
Four businesses - Phone Shop, The Aesthetic Rooms, Salvation Army and Authentic Romanian supermarket - remained cordoned off and shut when GlasgowLive headed to the scene earlier today.
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We spoke with Hamid Haidari, owner of the Phone Shop, of the damage caused to his shop.
He said: "A fire took place in the building upstairs and the fire services came. When the firefighters were putting it out, all the water came down and damaged my shop.
"There has been a lot of damage, everything looks ruined. It’s worse at the back of my shop.
"I am shocked and saddened but can’t do anything about it at the moment. It means I will have to be closed which will affect my livelihood.
"I don’t know how long I will have to be closed for. We will have to wait to see what happens.
"When I came to the shop this morning Scottish power said the damage was very bad and they cut the electricity. I don’t know how long it will take, somebody will have to come and check the building."
A Scottish Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson said: “We were alerted at 6.59pm on Tuesday 11 July to reports of a fire within a derelict building on Kilmarnock Road, Shawlands.
"Operations Control mobilised a total of nine fire appliances to tackle and contain the fire.
"There were no reported casualties and crews left at 9.15am on Wednesday, 12 July once ensuring the area was safe."
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “Around 7.15pm on Tuesday, 11 July 2023, we received a report of a fire at a premises on Kilmarnock Road, Glasgow.
“The fire is being treated as wilful and enquiries are ongoing.
Pictures from the scene shows shutters at the Salvation Army charity shop pulled apart during the incident.
We have contacted Salvation Army for a comment.
